


The Heathen, The Zealot And The One Between

by wolotow



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27956114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolotow/pseuds/wolotow
Summary: The story of how the zombie combo became the invulnerable triumvirate.[updated: every other week]
Relationships: Hidan (Naruto) & Original Character(s), Hidan (Naruto)/Original Character(s), Hidan/Kakuzu (Naruto), Kakuzu (Naruto) & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 15





	1. Cave In The Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfiction and English is not my native language, so please don't hesitate to critique my work in the comment section!

The Sun was already setting when they reached the bottom of the timeworn pavement that led up on the side of the mountain. Upon hearing the arrival of the travellers some birds took flight, maybe to escape their childish bickering or they sensed something that those two could not. Even the trees seemed to be vary of something, they stood still, unmoving, while gentle wafts caressed their leaves. The sky above was painted in shades of purple and orange; it was a violently colourful and aggressively beautiful setting. Still, it seemed surreally calm just like those tense moments before the storm strikes.

The pair finally made their move. They started walking in much bigger silence than they’ve arrived in. The taller figure, who was fully clothed from head to toe and only his eyes were visible, seemed to be lost in thought as he kept on marching without saying a word to his partner, a man full of frustration and boredom, at least that is what his constant nagging gave away. He hated being ignored, but what he loathed even more was when things did not go his way. Since he couldn’t do much to protest he resorted to pestering the older fellow, but after a while even this started to bore him. It’s wasn’t worth it if he got no reaction from it.

He began playing with a kunai that he has stolen from his latest victim, whose agony-filled wailing and teary eyes he has long forgotten about. He was spinning the weapon in his hand, making it go faster and faster with a childish beam on his face. Just when the dangerous game got exciting it slipped from his finger and the kunai landed in a nearby bush, completely disappearing from sight.

“Fucking piece of shit,” Hidan groaned.

He knelt down in front of the hydrangea, burying his face in the gorgeous flowers while his hands were searching blindly for the weapon. Among the dense leaves of the plant the kunai cut his hand, so he just grabbed it like an insane person and held it up to the sky with a glorious smirk. Blood was dripping from his palm where the sharp edge of the weapon pressed the hardest into him. A crimson shade trail stemmed from the wound on his porcelain white skin; it was slowly making its way down on his forearm. The young man held his arm close to his face, then with a single motion slowly licked it all off. By the time his tongue arrived to his palm the wound has already closed as if it was never even there.

“Are you done?” asked a stern, deep voice that emerged from the mask-hidden mouth of his partner.

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded with the same amount enthusiasm.

“Then get moving. I want to arrive to the inn near before nightfall.”

“That’s still so fucking far away!” complained the other one. “We should’ve stopped in the town!”

“No. The festival season not only brought more witnesses, but also more ninjas to that lousy place.” Kakuzu explained with such a tone as if he was talking to a toddler. “Besides, I’m not paying for an overpriced room when there’s a cheaper option.”

“Fucking cheapskate…” he murmured. “I wish Lord Jashin would curse you, you old miser!”

“Oh, he already did,” the pale man’s partner remarked.

He wished he could pinch his nose bridge, but his full hands made it impossible. They were already halfway through their journey to the inn; he was not going to turn back now. The older man wouldn’t admit it openly but he too was getting tired of their eventful day full of fighting and walking, especially after losing a heart. He just sighed for the thousandth time on that day and kept on marching with his tiresome partner. For a while nothing has happened. Hidan seemed awfully quiet too -either he was praying to his forsaken god or just thinking- and the silence made Kakuzu uneasy. A large forest like this was never supposed to be that serene. While he was inspecting his surroundings he lowered his peculiar eyes on the hydrangeas blooming on the roadside. Despite there being so many of them the wind didn’t carry any fragrance of flowers, maybe they didn’t even have one.

By the time the Sun has set, the zombie combo still were far from the summit, at least far enough for it to cause a violent dispute between the two that resulted in getting physical with each other. The pale man was yelling while he swiftly swung his blood red scythe at his partner who barely got away from the sharp blades, which instead of his flesh got stuck in a nearby tree. Kakuzu, while still refusing to let go of his briefcases, quickly closed the distance between them and forcefully kicked at Hidan’s face. He successfully blocked the first kick with his forearms, but he couldn’t evade the next attack that came in the shape of the baggage. While he was sent flying into the side of the mountain, bank notes escaped from the briefcase which’s claps were so badly damaged that they couldn’t hold it together anymore. The older man -even more angrily than before- shut the briefcase close and frantically picked up the bills that he loved so much more than anything else in the world. When he was finally done counting them, Kakuzu finally turned his attention to the younger fellow, who was gleefully laughing at him even though his broken ribs made that very painful. Hidan tried talking to throw some insults at the other fellow but his joy was so big that he simply could not stop giggling until a hand collided with him. Kakuzu grabbed Hidan’s neck and pushed him further into the stone wall, squeezing his windpipe with all of his might, but then he all of a sudden felt a strange chakra coming from behind his partner that made him jerk his hand back. It belonged to neither of them, so it must’ve been someone else’s. The zealot -now even more perturbed than ever,-stared at Kakuzu while gently massaging the hand shaped bruise on his neck. He took a step forward, shaking off all the debris that was clinging onto his silver hair and clothes.

“What the fuck is up with you?” he asked impatiently while staring at the other’s red and green eyes which were focused on something beyond what was in front of them. “Since when do you pussy out of a fight, you old fuck?”

“Shut your mouth,” he grumbled, not even sparing a single glance at Hidan’s direction. “Do you feel it?”

“No? What the hell are you saying?”

“There’s someone or something inside this mountain.”

Without hesitation he raised his fist and with his hardened flesh -which was stronger than steel- he struck at the indentation that his partner left behind. The stone in front of him cracked and collapsed onto itself in a much smaller pile than expected, leaving a hole big enough to comfortably walk through. It was strangely perfect, way too symmetrical to be a coincidence.

“So this was only camouflage,” the pale man noted. “Let’s check out what’s inside!”

“We don’t have time for messing around, the inn is at most an hour away.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that shit today at least 3 times,” Hidan turned to Kakuzu with a bored expression on his handsome face. “You can go, I don’t fucking care, but this is way too exciting to leave behind.”

The young man stepped in with his heavy scythe in his right hand and excitement in his heart, he was feeling just as delighted as before going into a fight. The only light source was the sickly pale Moon behind him, its light stretched out his dark shadow so that it reached until the furthest wall of the cave. The hole wasn’t big by any means, it was about the same size as a bedroom, maybe even smaller than that. At least the ground was in some places covered in colourful rugs which let out puffs of dust when Hidan stepped on them. There was only place for a few chests, piles of old books, a rolled up futon that was neatly tucked away, but none of this caught the young man’s attention like the statue that was faintly sparkling in of the corners. When he finally moved out of the light’s way, it landed on the statues and made it sparkle like brightest diamond, giving it an ethereal glow that quickly filled the room and banished the darkness. He was sure for a moment that what he was seeing with his eyes was actually some kind of gem, which has been chiselled into this strange, human-like shape.

It was mesmerizing. Hidan has seen many striking sights in his sinful, violent life, and this was one those moments where he knew he would remember it for a very long time. He quickly turned away to call for his partner’s name, however, Kakuzu never left. He stood still at the entrance, taking in the statue’s beauty and subconsciously calculating its value. The younger man knew what that look meant on the other’s face, and he did not like it the least.

“Don’t even fucking think about it, you greedy asshole,” he said. “I’m not taking another damned detour just so that you can sell this at a fucking pawnshop. It’s probably worthless.”

“I wouldn’t hide something with that much care if it did not have any significance, so that means it does worth at least something.”

“Yeah, but this whole cave gives me cult vibes,” Hidan alluded, stepping next to the statue to take a closer look at the large scroll in its lap. “No one wants to deal with sacred shit like this. Hell, it might be fucking cursed too.”

“Since when did you become superstitious?” the older man asked rhetorically while examining a book he picked up from one of the stacks. “I haven’t seen these in a while.”

“The fuck you mean by that?”

“These are rather outdated editions, especially this bingo book,” Kakuzu remarked, then passed it to Hidan who easily caught it with one hand.

“I’m not even in it!” he scoffed after he finished searching for his page that never appeared. “Why the fuck would anyone hide some shit like this that always gets updated?”

“This was the smartest question you have asked all day,” the other fellow muttered.

In the meantime he opened one of the chests that weren’t locked, only to find stale clothes that wouldn’t fit either of them. They looked feminine and somewhat foreign, the man was sure that they did not come from the Land of Fire. After accidentally grabbing an underwear he swiftly dropped it back and closed the wooden container; he decided to move onto the next one. Kakuzu effortlessly broke the padlock off. His stoic face twisted into a somewhat delighted expression when content of the chest turned out to be stacks of well-organized bills that weren’t expired. He quickly picked up a handful and began counting.

Hidan was paying attention to him, but this was the moment where the zealot got really bored of what his partner was doing. He turned head back to the huge scroll. It seemed like the most well-kept belonging in this cave filled with ancient, useless things. It was mainly dark purple, but nearer the edges it was coral coloured with a geometric pattern that was slightly darker in shade. The two parts were separated with red cords which had a slight sheen to them. They were tied so tightly that the parchment turned creasy under them.

Hidan, after a short hesitation, lifted up his right hand to touch it. His index finger was only an inch away from grazing the scroll, yet this was the moment something unforeseen happened. The statue not only moved, but it moved so fast that it was able to grab the young man’s arm and stop him from getting away. A surprised yelp escaped his mouth which caught his partner’s attention.

“Let me go, you fucking bitch!” Hidan yelled.

“What did you do?” Kakuzu demanded sternly, standing up and facing the scene unfolding in front of him.

“Nothing, you bastard! This shit just suddenly grabbed my-“

Before the last word could leave his lips he began experiencing a sudden uncomfortable sensation in his limb. It felt like as if it got frozen, but without the sharp, painful coldness that always comes with it. He couldn’t move his arm, it turned heavy and still very fast. He finally realized by looking at his fingers, which were peeking out the sleeve of his robe, that his forearm turned into the same material as the statue itself. He lifted his head to look at the statue, which would’ve been staring at him if it had eyes. The thing slowly stood up, forcing Hidan to mirror its movements while it secured the scroll under its armpit. The statue’s face started changing; it wasn’t much, but the pale man saw it. At first he thought that the light or his mind was playing tricks on him, but the more he stared at the statues head, the more it started to resemble a young women. Gradually nose, mouth and eyes took shape on its smooth face, forming so gently and smoothly as if he was looking at the rippling surface of a clear pond. It was a truly fascinating process to see.

At first he did not even notice that the statue was also draining his chakra. It only became apparent when a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him which nearly made him lose his balance. With that, the young man’s dread swiftly turned into rage and with all of his desperation he fiercely grabbed his weapon. Awkwardly holding the heavy scythe in his left hand he held it up high and with no delay he cut off his arm to finally free himself. He took a few steps back and dropped his weapon on the ground with a loud clink; the sound echoed loudly in the cave. He then grabbed his arm, which was heavily bleeding.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Hidan muttered madly under his breath. “What now?”

“We leave,” the older man said while raising his hand to take off his robe.

Suddenly all of his movements stopped as he seemed to realize something while they watched the statue saunter to the entrance, blocking the only exit and turning into a truly stunning view in the moonlight. It was still holding the man’s cut off forearm.

“Yo, this isn’t the right moment to decide you’re capable of feelings and be fucking scared, you asshole! Send one of those fucking masks at it!” Hidan screamed. “What the fuck are you waiting for?!”

“I can’t use them in a closed space like this. Even so, if I let one of the masks loose I will just be throwing one of my hearts away for absolutely nothing.”

“Then fucking sit back, you old miser.”

The younger man let go of his right arm that was no longer bleeding as it has already started healing. He bent down to pick up his scythe when once again the statue moved. It held up a hand, its palm facing them, which was a signal to stop moving.

“The fuck?” Hidan asked, feeling offended.

Kakuzu did not say a word, he was interested in what the statue was planning on doing. The thing dropped its hand, as well as its head. Bit by bit its rough and sharp surface turned smooth, which made it almost see through. From its fingertips and toes it slowly turned human as if it was being filled with substance, a lovely shade of tan for skin, an ashy blonde for hair and a rosy tint for lips. On her face two deep crimson lines appeared, one horizontally, where her eyebrows were supposed to be, and another vertically, starting from below her bottom lip and disappearing under her chin. She finally opened her eyes to stare at them; her irises were nearly glowing in the dark shadows framing her slender figure. Suddenly her strict expression relaxed into a neutral, slightly amused one.


	2. Coerced Agreement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still unsure of how will I tag this story, so in the meantime just keep in mind that I never shy away from gorey stuff, foul language, nudity or bad humour. (〜￣△￣)〜

Kakuzu was rarely left speechless, but that transformation made him quite surprised, understandably so. He was experienced and wise after living for many decades, he has seen many jutsus, but not a single one of them resembled what the young women in front of them performed. That made him feel both amazed and, frankly, pissed, since he did not want to deal with another opponent; he had enough for the day. He readied himself for the fight by loosening the threads which were securing the masks on his back. Hidan grabbed the kunai buried in his left pocket.

“Don’t ever touch my things again,” she warned, carefully setting down the large scroll she was holding. ”Or I’ll crystallize your whole body.”

When she was finished she took the pale man’s forearm into both of her hands and slowly turned it back into flesh, just like she did it with her own body. It was still warm and bleeding. The red body fluid dripped down on her hands onto the hand-woven rug she was standing on, leaving behind dark spots and a lingering iron scent. She stepped forward and held out the cut off limb to Hidan, who was still staring at her with disbelief.

“You might be able to do… something with it,” the girl said, feeling a bit embarrassed. “To be honest, you went a bit overboard.”

“Are you for fucking real?!” he barked angrily while grabbing his arm and turning to Kakuzu. “Hey, help me with this shit.”

“You can grow a new one, can’t you?” Kakuzu asked spiritlessly. “Then do that.”

“This is way faster, that would take me fucking hours!”

“Fine,” he groaned, not caring enough to argue with his partner.

The older man let one thread loose and with precision, he carefully sewed the limb back where it belonged as if this was something he did all his life. The young woman could only stare with amazement as she watched the procedure happen, she even leaned closer which made both man feel less threatened and much more irritated. The overjoyed smile plastered across her face paired with her cold eyes certainly did not help. She was also very much naked apart from her undergarments, but that didn’t seemed to phase her in the slightest.

“That is fascinating!” she exclaimed. “So does that mean you have a jutsu that makes it possible for you to heal at an incredible rate? Or were you born with this ability? Maybe it’s something forbidden?”

“It’s not some ninja bullshit,” Hidan explained, feeling annoyed because he disliked when someone asked him questions which they had no right to know the answers to. “Lord Jashin rewards my hard work and devotion with immortality.”

“He must be a cool guy.”

“He’s the only god on this forsaken land, you fucking heathen! Not some kind of damned person you can just talk to!”

“Sure,” she shrugged, clearly losing interest in him. She turned to Kakuzu, lifting her head high so she could face the large man standing there with crossed arms. The height difference was almost comical between them. “You’re his dad or what?”

“No.”

“Hm, if you say so!” she said beaming. “Now go outside so I can get dressed.”

And so that’s what they did, but they didn’t leave her there just yet. They both had something they wanted to steal; the 20 million ryo that was in the chest was begging to be taken, meanwhile the scroll still fascinated the pale man, especially after temporarily losing a limb while trying to get a hold of it. Hidan was furiously scratching the stiches on his upper arm, all the while his partner stood nearby, silently contemplating everything that has happened in the past five minutes.

“That bitch made us look like fucking fools. I really want to sacrifice her.”

“To your cool guy?” Kakuzu repeated what she had said, feeling slightly amused at the sight of Hidan’s face turning bright red with rage.

“Heathens! All of you! One day I will slaughter everyone in the name of Lord Jashin and then you’ll be begging for mercy that won’t come,” the zealot muttered.

Soon the girl joined them, stepping out of the cave after so long that she almost forgotten what the outside looked like or what it felt like to breath fresh air. She completely ignored them as she ran up to the hydrangeas to kneel in front of them and take a closer look at the pale blue flowers that closely resembled her eyes. She was smiling as she lifted a hand to touch a petal, but it soon turned into a frown as she accidentally crystallized the whole plant. She turned her attention to her hands and fingers which were covered in tiny scars and particles, shimmering in the weak light of the cloud-covered Moon. _“I will need some bandages.”_

All of a sudden she felt like something was heading in her direction so the young woman swiftly bowed down, her head barely escaping the sharp blades of Hidan’s scythe. “ _I still got this_.” she thought to herself as she rose to face the zombie combo.

“Say, how did you discover my cave?”

“By accident.”

“Huh,” she mused, looking at the taller man. “You were quite lucky, she probably made sure to hide it well. What gave it away?”

“Your chakra, it seemed unnatural,” Kakuzu answered. He concluded that for now their best option is to talk since they had no idea what else she was capable of. They couldn’t touch her, but that didn’t mean using weapons were also off the table. If she had a weakness it must’ve been the amount of chakra she used or even the speed of the transformation. “Judging by the books, you spent many years in there.”

“I certainly did.”

“What was the purpose of that?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Because I asked you a question.”

“You truly sound like an old man.”

“And you sound like a brat. The worst kind,” the other growled in a low, clearly annoyed tone. “The one that doesn’t know its place.”

“Do you always try to intimidate others when nothing else works?”

“Yeah, enough of that chit-chat,” Hidan interrupted, raising his deadly weapon to attack her once more. ”I really don’t give a fuck about all that. Give us your cash and that scroll, then your death won’t be as painful.”

“No, absolutely not. That’s all I have!”

“That’s unfortunate,” the older man said sarcastically.

For a fleeting moment they stood still, body and lips unmoving. There was no sound, even the surrounding woodland seemed to hold its breath as it waited for what will transpire from their stare down. The night air was cool; the gentle breeze left goosebumps on her skin along its way. It might have been from the excitement too. It’s been a while since she has faced such frightening people. The stern, ruthless eyes of the tall man and the bloodthirsty, frenzy expression the other wore were truly a sight to behold. They were enemy who she should’ve taken seriously.

Hidan excitedly licked his lips, then attacked. He swung his scythe at her with a maniacal laughter, tearing into the baggy, ill-fitting dress she wore, barely missing her tender skin. She came up running to him, crystallizing her right fist before landing a strong punch on the man’s jaw that forced him to take a step back. Behind from Hidan came thick, black tendrils that engulfed the young woman’s left arm and leg, lifted her up in the air and then forcibly threw her down onto the old pavement, which cracked under her crystal-hardened body. When the zealot’s next attack came, she quickly rolled out of the way before the scythe‘s largest blade could pierce her, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust. She hastily stood up, but Kakuzu’s attack still made her feel a bit dizzy. The tendrils appeared in front of her, so the young women took a deep breath and hardened the whole surface of her body in the blink of an eye. She grabbed a handful of them and began the crystallization process but stopped it before it could reach the older man’s body, barely an inch away from his tan, battle-worn skin.

“Enough,” she said firmly. “This will go on and on until one of us drops dead, so let’s make a deal.”

“Stop fucking around, you bitch!” Hidan yelled. “You don’t get to dictate shit.”

“I guess that’s true, but I can show you what’s inside the scroll. You can’t keep it though because I need it. Also, you can have the third of my money.”

“I can take all of it after I killed you, so what’s the point in negotiating?”

“You’re not in a situation where you can confidently say that, so just let’s just shake on it.”

“What do you want in return?” Kakuzu demanded, knowing damn well that nothing is free in this forsaken world.

“Well, two things to be exact. First of all, I want to come with you. The two of you really fascinate me, especially these things,” she added, gently tugging on the dark tendrils before releasing them. “I have a slight suspicion that I’ve seen them before.’

“What are you babbling about…” 

“I haven’t finished. So, I need bandages. Preferably clean ones.”

“Did you cut her?” the older man asked after turning his head to his partner.

“Hell no, the bitch was too fast,” he shrugged.

“My name is Nonoka,” she said, looking at Hidan with unconcealed disgust. “And don’t call me a bitch unless I call you a vicious little asshole.”

“Feisty!” the pale man remarked with a malicious grin. He secured his crimson scythe on his back, thereafter concentrated on his stiches which were incredibly itchy as a result of the healing process. “This is driving me insane.”

“Don’t whine,” his partner muttered while withdrawing his tendrils.

“So, what can I call you?” Nonoka asked as she stood facing the men, still not lowering her defence.

“Kakuzu,” he said sternly.

“Oh, now I know!” she beamed. “I knew you were familiar! You’re that rogue ninja from Takigakure!”

She returned to the cave, grabbed her scroll, a small bottle of ink and a brush, and then hurried back outside to drop down on one knee to roll it out. Its content was not what the zombie combo anticipated; they were expecting maybe a summoning jutsu or something forbidden, instead they got a long list with a hundred slots. A good number of them already had names written in them, they recognised some of them too, however, the majority were unfamiliar to even Kakuzu. Under the signatures there were a few lines detailing their abilities and their respective hidden village symbols. It reminded them of a bingo book in a strange sense.

“Can I have your autograph?” Nonoka looked up at him, eagerly staring.

“Why?”

“Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with jutsus. I just collect names of strong opponents,” she clarified. “You can even inspect the parchment if you’d like, there’s absolutely nothing sneaky going on. Pinky promise.”

“Shut up,” came the harsh reply. “You’re coming with us, so stop testing your luck.”

“Wait! Really?”

“The fuck?” Hidan scoffed. “No way in hell! We’re not taking her with us.”

“You got what you wanted,” Kakuzu said, hinting at the scroll. “Now it’s my turn.”

“Only if you sign it here,” the girl insisted, pointing at one of the empty columns with the end of her brush. “Come on, it’s really nothing compared to 7 million ryo.”

With a grunt he squatted down next to Nonoka, who was eagerly waiting for him. Kakuzu picked up the writing instrument then dipped it in the dark liquid. He got to working, slowly but steadily writing kanjis that formed his name. Before he finished the last character, the older man grabbed Nonoka’s shoulder to shove her away so that she weren’t literally breathing down on his neck; the sudden impact made her loose her balance and she stumbled over. He found her closeness irritating, although it was nothing personal; he simply loathed when someone got in uncomfortably close proximity of him.

After the last stroke he put the brush down on the ground and stood up, ready to go.

“You get a minute to pack your things, after that we’ll be leaving.”


	3. Nasty Habits

It was almost midnight when the trio arrived to the Ajisai Inn. The building was nearly pitch black, with the exception of a few corridors, rooms and where lanterns were scattered around the garden area and the reception. Here they had to wait for a while before anyone decided to check up on them. The owner, a startled, old man who has just barely woken up, walked behind the counter. With a swift movement he removed the bell Hidan has been abusing for the past fifteen minutes to get someone’s attention. He pulled out a large book to see which rooms were still available despite the many travellers the festival has brought in, closely examining the pages and moving his finger alongside the numbers. Soon his shaking, wrinkly hand landed on top of two empty rows, fingertip resting on the words “third floor”.

“You’re in great luck,” he hummed, picking up a fountain pen. “We still have two rooms available, despite your late arrival. The festivities has already begun yesterday.”

“We are not here for that,” Kakuzu said, while peeking at the other two from the corner of his eye, who were sitting comfortably on the sofas in the lobby. They were awfully quiet, but he did mind that in the slightest; it was like music to his ears. “What about the rooms?”

“One is a double, while the other is a single. I guess you’ll be taking both of them. One night?”

“Correct.”

“Alright, that’ll be 15 thousand ryo.”

“Hell, that’s a lot!” remarked Nonoka with her head resting the couch’s backrest. “Things really got expensive around here.”

“Shut up,” Kakuzu told her, bitterly handing the money over to the innkeeper, then grabbing the keys.

“Oh, before you go,” the elderly man interjected with his meek voice. “The rooms are not next to each other, but they’re on the same hallway of the third floor. Smoking is forbidden in the whole building. Well, not forbidden, but highly discouraged.”

“Hey, do you sell cigarettes?” the young woman asked. “I’d kill for a pack or two.”

“Yes, I’ll get them for you,” he nodded, left, thereafter returned with two small boxes and matches that he placed on the countertop.

“Ah, thank you so much!” she said, pretty much beaming with joy. She grabbed those and quickly hid them in her pocket. “How much?”

“A hundred and thirty ryo.”

She payed and immediately joined the two men waiting for her at the wooden staircase that led up to the first floor. They climbed the stairs in silence and did not say a word until they arrived on the third floor. Kakuzu handed her one of the keys, the one with a tag that had the number 302 on it. The zombie combo watched her as she stepped inside the small, but luxurious room where she would spend the night, then they got familiar with their own room too. It was without a doubt the best room they ever had to share during their travels. The walls were a rich shade of blue, reminiscent of the suffocating deep of the ocean, with wooden skirting boards at the bottom where the expensive wallpaper would meet the floor. The tatami under their feet was warm to the touch; the inn must have had floor heating. It felt like a blessing after walking for hours in the cold night. In front of the windows the curtains were gently flowing, moving in sync with the cold winds of the night. A tranquil sight without a doubt.

Hidan laid down on the bed that was closer to the entrance and turned his head to the right to watch Kakuzu, who was at the moment sitting at the desk, counting and calculating his money with a disapproving frown on his face. He was no longer wrapped up in his Akatsuki robe, the garment has been hanged up on a hanger and stored in the massive white closet that stood menacingly in the corner. The top he was wearing didn’t leave much to the imagination. It covered his broad chest and sides, however, his arms and back remained uncovered, fully exposing the crude stiches that held his tan skin together. The four white masks were harmless at the moment; the dangerous beasts were resting. The pale man knew each of them corresponded to an element, but he has yet to see all of them in action. He took a liking to the fire mask that had a huge, red mouth and was stuck in toothy grin; it reminded Hidan of an ugly dog. The two blue looked like birds to him and the yellow one was an angry demon in his eyes.

They made Hidan think of when they were ambushed that morning and Kakuzu lost one of his hearts. He wondered what his partner felt during the process. Surely, it was uncomfortable or at least bearably agonizing, still, the young man was left pondering since this answer didn’t truly satisfy him. He knew what it felt like to stab his own heart, however, when he performed his sacred ritual to please his god he also felt pleasure that shook him to the core and left him wanting more. It was addicting. It was also very morbid and morally questionable, but these were things which he did not care about.

The pencil stopped moving in his partner’s hand.

“What do you want?” Kakuzu demanded, massaging his nose bridge in an attempt to get rid of a headache.

“Should we kill her?”

“No,” he responded as he leaned back in his chair. “She possesses an interesting jutsu that is powerful because she can use it extremely well. I want to discover her weakness instead of attacking her blindly. She could even be useful in the future.”

“You’re always so fucking careful and analytical. It’s almost irritating.”

“If you’re prepared, there won’t be any sorrow.”

“Yeah, you always say that shit,” Hidan groaned while sitting up on his bed. “I’m checking out the bath.”

The zealot didn’t wait for the answer he knew wouldn’t come. He grabbed a towel from the dresser and left the room. The door closed behind him with a soft click and he found himself standing alone in the middle of a dim corridor. He let go of the doorknob just in time to see Nonoka lock her room and leave in the direction where they came from, without noticing the man. Hidan felt a smirk appear on his face.

He quietly followed her throughout the building, down the stairs and around the corridors until they finally arrived to the communal bathroom, which dominated most of the ground floor. As he approached the changing rooms the air got heavier and heavier with steam, making it harder to breathe. Hidan walked into the changing room for males and freed himself from his clothes. He collected them in a pile on the floor, not caring enough to neatly fold them or even pick them up from the cold tiles. He finally stepped into the bathroom. It was separated by gender, however, both parts were eerily silent. The noises came from outside, which surprised Hidan. To avoid walking around fully nude he covered his hips, upper thighs and everything in-between with the towel. The man discovered that at the end of the hallway there were two sliding doors which he hadn’t notice earlier. He approached them with confidence, then glanced through the gap between them with one eye.

Just as he expected, the girl was there, smoking and getting lost in her thoughts. He grabbed the lightweight shojis and pushed the two apart to walk outside. Nonoka glanced up at him, pale blue eyes fixated on magenta irises. She simply slid a bit further away on the bench to make place for Hidan to sit down, which he did.

“It’s disgusting when a woman is smoking.”

“I don’t think I ever asked for your opinion in this matter,” she retorted, taking a long drag from her cigarette and blowing it in the other’s face.

“Bitch,” he barked between coughs. “You better hope it kills you before I do.”

“And you better stop addressing me like that, you vicious little asshole.”

“That’s way too fucking long,” the young man said. “Call me Hidan instead.”

“Sure…” she murmured, her mind wandering somewhere else. “What were you two doing before you discovered the cave?”

“Bounty hunting.”

“Ah, I could’ve almost guessed it.”

“The old fart really wanted to kill a guy cause he was worth a shit ton of money. But I finished him,” Hidan added, smiling wickedly. “And I had so much fun! He was strong, which made him a perfect sacrifice for Lord Jashin. Oh, his terrified face was beautiful as the life left his eyes! I could never get used to it. It’s amazing.”

“It’s almost fascinating how sadistic you are,” Nonoka remarked, discarding the cigarette butt in a trashcan.

When she turned back to face him again, the pale man was already standing alarmingly close, staring down at her. Their height difference wasn’t drastic -at most it was five centimetres- but under those bloodthirsty eyes even she felt small.

“Say, are you interested in the way of Lord Jashin and his teachings?”

He asked in a low, tantalizing voice; it was so different from his usual yelling. He reeked of blood and violence, yet the body she saw standing in front of her was as pure as the fresh snow. No scars or injuries, just pale, milky skin. Nonoka shamelessly stared at his well-toned muscles and abdomen, even raising a hand just touch him, just below the pendant Hidan was always wearing, and pressing a nail into his chest. He was almost tempting, especially now that he was trying to convince her with his body to share his beliefs.

“No,” she said with a smile, stepping to the entrance. “Religion is not my thing.”

“What a shame,” sighed the other later while lowering himself into the warm water, resting directly across her. She was sitting in a corner, head propped in her palm and legs pulled up close enough to her chest that her knees were sticking out of the water. “That means I have to kill you.”

“You can try.”

“And I will succeed.”

“You won’t,” Nonoka mused, looking at him with great interest. “But I’d still love to see you try.”

“You’re so fucking cocky and shameless. It’s almost disgusting.”

“I’m just confident in myself and my body,” she shrugged. “Most people can’t hurt me or kill me, so why wouldn’t I be proud of myself for that?”

“There’s some truth in that,” agreed Hidan, moving closer to her and stopping at her feet, leaning back and resting his head on the side of the pool. “But you also got in a bath with a man you don’t even know, and you’re naked too.”

“So what?”

“Even if I knew any better I’d still call you a whore,” he told her with the biggest grin on his face.

She swiftly stood up to move in front of him, firmly placing both of her palms besides his head so that he could only focus on her. Hidan tried to emerge from the warm water, but she grabbed his right shoulder, forcing him to stay still as she was glaring at him with cold eyes. He then suddenly raised his hands and placed them on her hips, grabbing them and forcibly pulling the other closer, locking her in place. Water droplets travelled down on her curves and her serious face, some of them landed on Hidan.

“I could have my way with you,” the zealot said, staring at her with eyes glistening in the weak lights of the bath. “It would be fun.”

“Try that and I’ll castrate you. Permanently.”

“If you want to fuck me so badly you could just fucking say that.”

“Getting on my nerves and assuming I’m interested in you beyond your abilities,” Nonoka whispered as she let go of him and took a step back. “You’re even more foolish than you look.”

“None of that was a definite no.”

“That’s true,” she admitted while sitting down next to Hidan to stare at the tile mosaic on the wall, illuminated by yellow and blue lanterns. “I would have sex with you if you weren’t such a woman-hating garbage.”

“No, you’re wrong.”

“Yeah? How come?”

“I won’t respect anyone until they prove themselves to me. It doesn’t matter if they’re female, male, old or young, so they equally worth fucking nothing in my eyes.”

“That’s such a childish philosophy,” she sighed. “How old are you? Twelve?”

“I’m twenty-one, you bitch.”

“Wait, really?” asked Nonoka gleefully, turning her head to face him. “Only twenty-one?”

“The fuck are you saying…” he scoffed, looking puzzled.

“I’m three years older, and I haven’t even accounted for the years I spent in the cave.”

“How the hell did you even survive that?” Hidan demanded, turning to face her in his childish excitement. “Are you immortal?”

“No, I’m definitely not. I wasn’t even conscious for the most part,” she explained, playing with her dishevelled locks which were clinging onto her damp skin. “My sister and I both have the kekkei genkai of our clan, so she was great help. She crystallized me and sealed the cave.”

“But then how the fuck did you grab my arm?”

“I guess she used some kind of jutsu that would reanimate me if someone tried to hurt me,” the young woman speculated. “I remember the moment the wall broke down and you stepped in, but I wasn’t able to move just yet. When you got closer I felt chakra flowing into me. It gave me strength.”

“Huh.”

“She was supposed to wake me up in three years if something goes wrong and I can’t do it myself, but I guess you two arrived earlier than that.”

“Or maybe she just fucking ditched you,” the pale man said, leaning back and closing his eyes. The heat of the gently swaying water and the flowery, heavy smell of the soap she used started to work on him; they dulled his senses. “People are like that.”

“No, she wouldn’t. I’m sure of that,” she pondered. “Now that I think about, who’s currently the Hokage? Is it still Sarutobi?”

“Nah, the old fucker is pushing up daisies.”

“He didn’t look that old to me the last time I saw him,” she remarked. “Well, I guess death always comes unexpectedly.”

“You really missed out on a few things.”

“What do yo mean?”

“The fifth took his place over a year ago after the snake cunt murdered him.”

“The fifth?” Nonoka asked, staring at the other with disbelief. “There’s already a fifth Hokage?”

“Yeah, but the forth Konoha asshole didn’t rule for long. The weakling died in the third war.”

“What?!” she yelled as she swiftly rose up, accidentally splashing water all over Hidan’s face. “That can’t be…”

“Oi, stop that! What’s the fucking matter?” he demanded impatiently, following the girl with his eyes.

She already got out the water and was drying her body with a fresh, white towel, looking visibly shaken. She covered herself in a bathrobe, grabbed her things and left. She was unsure where to go or what to do, however, the numbing panic in the back of her mind dictated that she should light a cigarette. And that’s what she did, since it felt like the right action to take in that moment. It calmed her down and helped her arrange her thoughts which were scattered all around in her head. She sat down at the same spot.

Nonoka was not born in the Land of Fire, but she still spent a few years there, hence the reason she choose to hide in one of its mountains near the border, northeast to Konohagakure. She was familiar enough with the Hidden Village to have seen its third hokage. As she remembered the face of the legendary Hiruzen Sarutobi, she could only see a man is his early forties and a shinobi still in his prime, not some kind of elderly man. “ _Does that really mean I spent more than three years in that cave?_ ” she thought to herself. “ _Then where’s Noriko? Why didn’t she come after me? Is it because of that war? Maybe she just can’t find me, after all, many things have happened while I was in the cave. She might be already dead, which would really suck._ ”

Meanwhile Hidan did not bother searching for her. He returned to his room and with an ungraceful move he dropped himself onto the large bed, burying his tired face in one of the huge, soft pillows. His partner was still positioned at the desk, figure embraced by dark shadows. Kakuzu was turning over page after page in the bingo book he took from the cave. This went on for minutes until he laid eyes upon the face he was looking for. Hidan noticed when his movements stopped, that was his cue to get up and join him at the oak desk. He lazily peered over the older man’s shoulder, which earned him an annoyed grunt.

Nonoka stared back at them from the page, with a bounty of 5 million ryo.


	4. Three Decade Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be taking a break to study for my exams. ( ￣ー￣)  
> The next chapter will be up on the 1st of February.

Early mornings were always the worst part of the day, no matter where they found Nonoka. The Sun’s harsh rays found a way through the blinds to her closed eyes, forcing her to open them up. The young woman rolled over onto her back, thereafter placed a bandaged arm on her head to shield her face. The night was full of turmoil for her; it left its mark on her face in the shape of dark circles under her eyes. She gradually got more and more awake, and when Nonoka had the strength she sat up. For a fleeting moment she contemplated laying back down and forgetting about the pair she was determined to follow for her own amusement, but her churning stomach convinced her otherwise. She swiftly got dressed and made herself look presentable in the small mirror above the bathroom sink. She brushed out her hair, secluded the two front pieces and pulled the rest back into a bun, only to be dissatisfied with the end result. With one motion she removed the ribbon holding it together, causing her silky locks to flow down on her back and shoulders like an untamed river. Nonoka was ready.

She saw the zombie combo in the dining area sitting at the furthest table, far away from everyone else. Not a single person wanted to sit nearby the two men with threatening auras. The girl grabbed a cup of tea along with a plate of various sweets and joined them.

“You look like shit,” she told Hidan who was sporting a nasty bruise on his cheek. “Did you run into a wall?”

“Shut the fuck up,” he muttered angrily. “This old miser punched me for nothing.”

“You were acting like a brat,” Kakuzu said, serenely reading his newspaper.

“You didn’t let me finish praying!”

“Because it’s a waste of time.”

“Says the one who spends fucking hours counting his damn money!” the young man retorted.

“At least when I do that, I get something done.”

“Are you guys in a cult or something?” she asked smugly.

Kakuzu only lifted his eyes from the page he was reading to take a stern look at her, however, the question made Hidan jerk his head in her direction.

“Are you fucking retarded? Of course not!”

“Fascinating,” she remarked. Nonoka took a bite from the dorayaki she has been holding, then put the rest down on her plate. “The matching rings and clothes gave me that impression.”

“We’re in the same organization.”

“And what’s that?” she questioned further. “I have never seen this red cloud before.”

“Akatsuki,” Kakuzu responded.

“What do you even do there?”

“Bounty hunting.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m obviously not telling you more than that,” he said, placing the old bingo book on the table.

Only in that moment she noticed his unique eyes since they were glaring into her own. The scleras were a muted shade of red, while the irises were green like the meadows of her home country. She got really curious about what the rest of his face looked like under the mask.

“Let me remind you of something: you are not affiliated with our organization, therefore you don’t get to ask questions. You are not a client or a target, only a nuisance that got lucky. Go home,” he added, sliding the book in front of her. “You don’t even worth enough for me to consider killing you.”

“So that’s why you took it,” she mused, staring at her picture. “I mean, that’s a lot of money considering I didn’t do much.”

“One does not get in the bingo book for nothing. What did you do?”

“I stole money and fled from Kusagakure to leave my clan behind,” Nonoka said, and held out her hand. “Give me your book.”

“You are not in it.”

“Huh. I guess everyone is convinced I died or something.”

“There has been many wars and battles; people often disappear without a trace.”

“I mean I get it, but still. Not even that long ago the silver haired Senju was the Hokage, right? I was born during his era.”

“He died about forty-five years ago,” the older man clarified.

“Oh.”

Nonoka picked up a different dessert, a mochi, then ate the thing in one bite. She washed it down with the rest of her tea.

“This means I spent twenty-nine years in that cave, which makes me fifty-two years old,” she said, stuffing her face with more sweets. “Fascinating.”

“It certainly is,” Kakuzu acknowledged, eyeing her with slight interest.

“Am I older than you?”

“Hah, you wish!” Hidan interjected, snorting. “He’s almost twice your age.”

“No way!” she giggled, leaning closer. “Do you look like that too under the mask?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a prude,” Nonoka pressed, shortly after turning to the other man when Kakuzu didn’t move. “What does he look like?”

“I don’t fucking know. He always wears that shit, even when he’s sleeping.”

“But you’re his partner, you should’ve seen it by now.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t fucking care,” he shrugged, but his aloof façade proved the opposite. The curiosity he felt was infuriating, however, he was never able to forcibly remove it or even bribe the older man into taking the damned cloth off. He didn’t have enough money for that and it also clashed with his religious morals. He never saw the other eating either. “His mug is probably hideous!”

“I’ve had enough of your childish banter,” Kakuzu said as he stood up. “We will be leaving in five minutes.”

He did not actually expect them to show up on time; he just wanted to go and forget about this overpriced accommodation that he had the displeasure of wasting money on. He was looking at a map, closely inspecting the roads which were leading in the direction they should be heading. All of them were too long or commonly used by Konoha jōnins, so Kakuzu decided to make a drastic shortcut that led straight down the side of the mountain. He walked to the edge of the rock platform where the inn stood, and stared down into the green abyss. He deemed it safe enough.

All of them had to use different methods to descend as they had very different skillsets. Kakuzu loosened the threads on his arms and elongated them with the tendrils so he could easily grab the branches and maneuver in the thick forest. With his brash movements and recklessness, Hidan was the first to arrive to the bottom. His already battle-worn cloak gained a few more tears and one particularly strong branch even pierced him through his abdomen. With a low grunt he pulled it out and threw it away, barely avoiding his partner in the process who arrived a second later. Nonoka was nowhere to be seen. The pale man suggested grimly that she might have been impaled and she was hanging somewhere with her guts in the open. Luckily for her, that was not the case. She simply had to take her time, jumping from tree to tree and being extremely careful not to damage the scroll she secured onto her back. When the young woman landed and felt real ground under her feet, she took a deep breath and sighed with a smile. Nonoka swiftly caught up with them, much to Hidan’s bewilderment. For hours they were trekking through the forest, almost exclusively using abandoned pathways that seem to lead nowhere until they got to another town on the other side of the border, much bigger than the one they have crossed yesterday.

This place was not exactly where they were heading, however, he needed to this dispose of some of the cash he was carrying since fighting and guarding it at the same time would be a nuisance. By the time Kakuzu stepped out of the bank it was already well past noon. Deciding to take a break before hunting down their next target, they went into a modest restaurant in the outskirts of the rural city. It was not welcoming by any means, but the scent emerging from the kitchen made it seem like it was worth eating there. They blended in well enough with the townsfolk, even managing to find three free seats during rush hour. Hidan sat the closest to the kitchen, next to him was Kakuzu and Nonoka was facing them. They were waiting for their orders, the oldest of the trio was firmly holding their number in his left hand. The girl was staring at his wrists -marked by two dark circles- and his nails, which were black. She looked at her own hands, quickly realising that she was wearing bandages, so she wouldn’t be able to see her own nails, which she usually painted a rich shade of red to match the tattoos on her face. As she leaned a bit forward to peek at Hidan’s nails she saw that they were a dark forest green. _“I guess that’s a part of their uniform.”_ she speculated. _“Still, I can’t imagine them sitting around, chatting and painting each other’s nails as if they were best friends. What a weird organization! I kinda want to join them, they might be fun.”_ The thought made her chuckle.

When she lifted her eyes, she saw the older man staring down at her with a disapproving look. She put her hands on the table to rest her head on them.

“What’s so funny?” Kakuzu asked, clearly not interested in the answer, but that didn’t stop her from talking.

“I was thinking about nails,” Nonoka replied, softly drumming on the table with her fingers. “What’s up with the tattoos? Were you in prison?”

“For a short time, yes.”

“What did you do?”

“Yeah, you haven’t told me shit either,” Hidan chimed in. “So?”

For a short-lived moment he looked at the two young people and their eager faces with bright eyes strangely reminded Kakuzu of children; the thought made him shiver. He has never felt like a parent, only an authority figure at best when Hidan was acting like a brat and he had to beat some sense into him. Kakuzu didn’t have any desires to be a father, but that doesn’t mean he has never pictured himself as one. If his life had turned out to be different he would have married a nice woman, had some kids and worked in finances. The concept felt surreal and disgustingly peaceful, especially when contrasting it with his current situation.

“I returned to Takigakure after my failed attempt to kill the first Hokage,” he said, recalling the day he hasn’t thought about for so long. “Failure was not an option in their eyes. They wanted me to succeed or die trying, but neither happened. They branded me and threw me in prison to rot there, but I escaped, because I was no longer willing to obey them.”

“Then what?”

“I wanted revenge for the mistreatment, so I killed all of the elders, carved out their hearts and took their most precious forbidden technique.”

“The Earth Grudge Fear,” Nonoka whispered.

“That’s cool,” Hidan grinned. “I couldn’t have imagined anything less violent from you!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed the tale,” Kakuzu said, his words basically drenched in sarcasm. “Go get your food.”

“Don’t fucking order me around!” Hidan yelled, but he got up nonetheless and did as he was told. “Here. Udon for the chimney, nothing for the old miser and spare ribs for the most devoted servant of Lord Jashin.”

“What an endearing nickname,” she mused as she took the bowl from the zealot. “I guess it’s better than being constantly called a bitch or a whore.”

“See? I can be polite if I want to.”

“That’s the bare minimum,” Nonoka sighed, breaking her chopsticks into two parts.

They devoured their lunches fast, feasting in comfortable silence, thereafter left the city in search of the next target. They were looking for the very mayor of the town, who has acquired many enemies in his lifetime, their “client” being one of them. He took the time to meet with Kakuzu in person in the inn, giving him as much detail as possible, which was highly unusual. This meant the client was willing to be seen with a member of the Akatsuki, not many had the guts to do that.


	5. Everyone Has Their Beliefs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exams are finally over and I can't believe I made it out alive... (；￣Д￣)
> 
> The following chapters will be longer but updates will only come every other week.

The trio was walking among flooded rice fields where the workers were diligently planting, ignoring the travellers. They were leaning forward and pushing fresh, green plants into the soft ground, one after another. The Sun was directly above them as well as glistening on the surface of the water, blinding anyone who stared at it for too long. This went on for miles until they reached the woodland again; the point where they could be sheltered from the scorching heat and follow the path that lead to their target’s residence. Soon they were embraced by the large shadows the tress and their leaves casted, even the air felt colder.

It was not a silent forest, animal noises came from every direction which got gradually louder as they went further along the dirt road. The cicadas’ shrilling cacophony soon grew to be irritating, deafening. It almost made Nonoka throw up the lunch they had not so long ago; this was the point where she had to grab her ears and crystallize them, which made her essentially unable to hear anything. At least she escaped the loud noises. _“There’s something very wrong with this forest,”_ she thought to herself. She looked around, seeking to find anything that caused it, but her attempt was futile.

Soon the pale man stopped, which earned him a concerned look from the young woman and a curious from his partner. The ringing he hasn’t noticed before was so intense that it forced him to realize he couldn’t hear anything besides that. He slowly lifted a hand to touch his auricle, only to feel some kind of liquid dripping down from his ear. Its familiar iron scent instantly gave away what it was. Blood, and it was his own. Hidan stared at the others and said something they did not understand. He repeated it louder, almost screaming, but that didn’t help either, which made him even more frustrated. Nonoka signalled for them to look at her and revealed her crystallized ears. She first pointed to her and then their heads. Both of them nodded at her with slight mistrust; her idea seemed the best as it was the only idea. The girl treated Hidan first, who became immediately relived when the ringing stopped. She turned to Kakuzu, who was still shielding his ears and wearing his mask. The older man hesitated while the others were glaring at him anticipation.

He surrendered with an annoyed groan, taking off the whole thing off with a swift movement. Hidan was victoriously grinning; he now had another thing to annoy his partner with. Nonoka blinked, taking in the craggy face she kind of expected to be hidden behind the mask, but it was different enough to surprise her. Kakuzu had the ruggedly handsome features of a man in his forties, sharp jawline and everything, as if he hasn’t aged a day since then. His most unique characteristic, besides his peculiar eyes, was his Glasgow smile. Cuts started from the corners of his mouth and ended right below his ears; they were held together by crude stiches. When she did not move fast enough, the century old ninja impatiently grabbed her hands and placed them on his ears, refusing to spend any more time without his mask on. Nonoka shook off her surprise with a quick shake of her head and used her kekkei genkai.

The world around him became unusually silent. There was nothing serene about it, in fact, the whole thing put them in great disadvantage. It irked all of them, especially Hidan, who has always relied on his sharp hearing, the keenest of his senses. He grabbed his scythe, ready to attack at any time. His magenta eyes were frantically searching for any suspicious movements in the surrounding greenery, turning his head left, right, up and down. A sudden flash in the nearby bushes caught his attention; he threw his scythe at it. He caught something, he felt it in the way the weapon and its cord was shaking. A devilish smirk appeared on his face while he swiftly pulled back the scythe, taking only the leg of a ninja with it. The limb landed at his feet with a silent thud. He kicked it back into the woods in that instant, laughing maniacally as he watched it fly away.

Hidan no longer bothered looking for a target as he came to the decision to just attack blindly. Eventually his deadly weapon had to hit something or preferably someone. The zealot took a few steps back to separate himself from the other two, who were already fighting. He closed his eyes for the shortest time to pray. Hidan was mumbling words he could not hear, however, he was sure that his god was listening. He wanted Lord Jashin to be there, since what he was about to do was all in his name and he could only serve him with massacre. His hands were ever so slightly trembling from the excitement. The pale man could hardly wait to begin, but when he was finally finished with his prayers, he gave it everything he got. Hidan started running to gain momentum, thereafter the following jump made him disappear in the lush vegetation.

Soon he returned with a kunai between his ribs, barely avoiding his rapidly beating heart. He tore the tool out as if it was nothing, his mind was clearly focusing on other things. His scythe was dripping with blood, yet it wasn’t enough for him. He needed more. The man cut his left wrist with the kunai to draw more of that precious red fluid, not even wincing at the pain. All of the blood gathered in a small pool on the ground. He dragged his foot through it and drew a triangle within a circle, the very same symbol that was hanging on a silver chain around his neck. Hidan’s pleased smile grew even wider when he licked the blood he collected from the attackers. He was fond of the taste, however, what came after that was even better.

His skin turned black with white, bone-like markings all around his body, lending him the appearance of a bloodthirsty grim reaper. He was chuckling as he took out a retractable spear, but soon it turned into a more deranged and maniacal laughter as he stabbed his own abdomen and legs, over and over again. His lips were moving; Hidan was screaming about the joy and pain he felt in that moment, slurring the words in his ecstatic frame of mind. He looked crazy, especially when he seized inflicting pain on himself and tilted his head back to stare at the sky peeking through the leaves. He raised his weapon and pierced his heart through with it. Pain washed all over his body, spreading from his still heart to the tip of his fingers.

The ritual was done.

Hidan’s eyes rolled back into his head as the much anticipated pleasure arrived; his body was shaking and his chest was heaving. _“Yeah, that’s it,”_ he thought, eyes glistening with frenzy and small tears of joy. _“Fuck, fuck, fuck… That’s it.”_ He grabbed his necklace and began praying, his lips touching the pendant.

The whole scene made Nonoka understand what it meant to be a devoted believer of Jashinism. However, Hidan didn’t look the priest part. Instead, he seemed like a vengeful, murderous god drenched in blood. Maybe he was Lord Jashin himself, nonetheless, he was a spectacle she could not and did not want to look away from. “ _I’m so glad these two found my cave,”_ she mused, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. _“I think I’ll collect his signature too. This ceremony is rather fascinating and I’m quite lucky that he hadn’t managed to use it on me. I’d be six feet under by now.”_ Nonoka turned her ears back into their original state to see if anything has changed since their attackers were dead. The forest was still silent. She looked around confused, for a moment the young woman considered that she might have become deaf, but then she heard leaves rustling in the wind and cicadas buzzing. She sighed with great relief, even though she disliked that sound. She used her kekkei genkai on the zombie combo and got to look at Kakuzu’s displeased expression. He didn’t manage to find a new heart with wind affinity before Hidan killed everyone. They were already very hard to come by, especially with a partner like his who just mindlessly slaughtered their enemies. He sat down on a large, moss covered rock and put his mask back on, tucking away any loose hair strands.

Meanwhile the girl walked up to the only ninja she killed by accident. She crouched down next to the semi-crystallized body and turned it over to have a look at his forehead protector. She didn’t recognise the symbol, so she turned to the rogue ninja of Takigakure.

“Which country are we even in?” Nonoka asked, holding up the forehead protector so the other could look at it. “This looks unfamiliar.”

“The Land of Sound.”

“But I thought we were in the Land of Rice Fields,” she said, signalling in the direction where they came from. “Have we travelled for so long that we’ve left it already?”

“No. They are the same.”

“So why the change in name?”

“You have to ask Orochimaru about that,” Kakuzu grunted, clearly not in the mood for chatting as he started reading. “If you can even find him.”

“He’s the daimyō?”

“Not really.”

She turned back to the corpse and searched through his pockets, hoping to lay her hands on something worth finding. Besides a few hundred ryo, explosive tags and snacks she didn’t find anything. It was rather disappointing.

“What are you reading?”

“A book,” came the brief reply.

“Ah, I never could’ve guessed it,” Nonoka mumbled, annoyed by his unwillingness to talk. She got up and crouched down in front of him, resting her hands on her knees. “So, what’s it about?”

“What are you doing?” he demanded, lifting his eyes from the page he was reading at the moment to glare at her.

“I’m trying to have a conversation.”

“No,” Kakuzu grumbled. “You are acting like a brat, because you are bored.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” she retorted with a small smile. “So?”

“It’s a collection of short, unrelated stories by the same author.”

“Time Stood Still by Tatsuo Hayashida,” she read it out loud, leaning closer. “I haven’t read this, but I have his other book at home. Well, I had it until my father took it from me.”

“Why?”

“He wanted me to focus on becoming a suitable housewife. He was already furious with me for training with the other kids from the ninja academy.”

“A housewife?” the older man asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, a housewife,” she nodded, laughing dryly. “That’s the main reason I ran away. By that age most women in my clan was married with at least a kid, therefore my father wanted me to be the same way.”

“What was the problem with that?”

“Just because I can bear children that doesn’t mean I have to do that and settle down. Besides, marriage sounds really suffocating.”

“It’s nothing more than a ceremony to bind people together until divorce or death,” Kakuzu remarked. “Contracts like this are meant to be restricting.”

“So you’re actually agreeing with me?”

“Yes.”

“Huh,” Nonoka grinned. “Still, love makes people do many things they don’t necessarily agree with.”

“Love is a ludicrous concept.”

“Yet we still crave it.”

“That’s false. People can live without love.”

“By people you’re referring to yourself, right?” she asked, turning her head to the left to take a look at the zealot, who finished praying. “Even he has something that he loves: his god.”

“I have my wealth which is the only thing one can have faith in.”

“Money becomes fucking worthless when you die, only Lord Jashin and his eternal punishment comes after that!” Hidan shouted while cleaning the blood off of his weapons. “You don’t take anything to the afterlife with you. Well, definitely not that shit.”

“Say, now that you’re done,” Nonoka said, rolling out her scroll. “Can I have your autograph too?”

“Not this crap again,” the older man sighed, pinching his nose bridge.

“Fuck yeah!” the zealot yelled, crouching down in front of the young woman and snatching the brush out of her hand. “I was waiting for this shit!”

“Clearly,” she remarked, amused by his enthusiasm.

When they were all ready, they set out to walking again. The mansion appeared soon after that, covered in ivy and well hidden in the greenery as if it has always been a part of the forest. The trio stopped in front of the gates. There were plenty of armed guards waiting for them with bows, ready to fire at any moment; they also felt the presence of at least ten other hiding in the nearby trees. They had the numerical superiority, however, they were nowhere near as ruthless as the two men standing in front of them therefore they did not have the upper hand in the situation. Kakuzu and Hidan attacked without a second thought, Nonoka just had to watch. She has never seen such a weird pair on the battlefield. Their skills and moves were complementing each other, yet there were moments when Hidan was caught in the crossfire -the masks did not hesitate to burn or electrify him- and Kakuzu had to watch out for his partner’s unpredictably swinging scythe which sometimes barely avoided him. They performed very well on their own, but they still had so much to learn before they could fight in perfect harmony.

The very last ninja dropped dead when Kakuzu broke her neck with his bare hand. She fell to the ground with a soft thud, eyes still glassy and mouth agape. The trio walked right past her, only paying attention to the man who was sitting on the stairs. Their target had his strong hands firmly clasped together as if he was praying or trying to calm himself while his doom approached him and stopped a few metres away from where he was positioned. The mayor stood up to speak, but when he opened his mouth Kakuzu’s right hand collided with his chest, tearing into the flesh and ripping out his rapidly beating heart, only leaving a gaping, bloody hole behind. He swiftly pulled back his hand and took the organ into his body, finally replacing the one that needed to be discarded. He didn’t grant his target a grand finale or a great last monologue before his last moments; Kakuzu loathed those as they just prolonged the inevitable. It was fast and almost comical.

“Hey, shitface!” Hidan screamed angrily. “I wanted to kill the cunt!”

“He had wind affinity,” said the other calmly, wiping his bloody hand in his trousers. “Quick death was his reward for that.”

“That was quite lucky,” Nonoka hummed. “What do you need it for?”

“None of your business.”

“Too late,” she chuckled. “I’m already deep in your business and I’m not planning on leaving.”

“Why the fuck are you that invested?” the pale man asked, turning to face her.

“I’ve never spent this much time with mercenaries so I want to see where all of this leads to.”

“I’ve seen the names in the scroll and most of them were killers like me and the old fart. Why us?”

“I don’t really have a satisfying answer for that,” she shrugged. “You entertain me, therefore I want to tag along until you no longer provide that.”

“Do you really view every shitty thing like that?” he demanded, pointing to the dead body with his scythe. “To you, all of this is just a fucking game?”

Nonoka glared at him with the most neutral look on her face she could make.

“Maybe.”

“You sinister bitch!” Hidan cackled. “Ha! You’re fucking crazy!”

“Of course you find that amusing,” Kakuzu grumbled, eyeing his partner.

“So, what’s our destination?” she asked eagerly.

“…Kumogakure.”


	6. Purga

The next few days were uneventful for the unlikely trio, even by normal standards. Their route led them through tall, dark forests and inhabited riversides where no one lived or they remained hidden, no one could tell; the people of the Land of Sound did not intervene with their journey. They left another nation behind them -the Land of Hot Water- where the youngest came from, however, they spent even less time there. Even though the country abandoned its fierce ways, its people still tried to kill Hidan on their journey. None of the attackers’ triumphed, thus their fate was ruthless, painful death.

They walked and only ever stopped when rest was needed after a long day. The monotony of it all was infuriating to Hidan and Nonoka; they could not stand the lack of tension in the air. They were either sulking or annoying Kakuzu, the only person who actually took enjoyment from the calmness. He tried to ignore the others the best he could, recalling the details of the mission which was directly assigned to them. _“Capture the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails and don’t kill her under any circumstances.”_ he thought, the words of their leader echoing in his mind. _“The other was easy enough to catch, most likely she will be the same.”_

The older man lifted his eyes to stare at the grey sky with the Sun hidden behind thick, gloomy clouds. The weather was gradually getting colder, his breath was forming small clouds as he breathed out the air in small huffs. _“We are finally at the border,”_ he noted, dissatisfied with the distance they still had left. After a few miles they stopped at a river, which separated the two countries on a large section. Its surface was frozen, however, below the thick layer of ice the water was still swiftly roaming. It was a dark and ominous sight, suffocating to say the least. He lifted his right leg, then placed it upon the mirror smooth surface. It didn’t crack under his weight. _“They should be fine too,”_ he thought as he straightened himself and took a peek at them from the corner of his eye. _“Well, not like that.”_

Hidan and Nonoka were in the midst of a race, and without realising, they jumped on top of one of the weaker parts of the ice, which immediately collapsed under them, thus they fell into the freezing cold water. Luckily for them the river was rather shallow near the bank; they were only submerged until their waists. Even faster than with the speed they arrived the two climbed out trembling like leaves.

“I’m gonna get so sick,” she whined, barely able to speak. “We should stop in the nearest town and buy warm clothes.”

“Yeah, and I need a new cloak,” Hidan agreed, taking off the soaking garment and tossing it aside. “There’s more holes in this shit than fabric.”

“That is your problem, because you are the one who ruined it,” his partner groaned, embarrassed to be in the proximity of the two idiots.

Despite his disdain, Kakuzu still guided them to a large settlement with his trusty map. The town hidden amongst tall pine trees was silent, noises only came from beneath their feet; as they stepped on the freshly fallen snow it crunched loudly. The wind screamed like a mad banshee, gathering snowdrifts around the buildings and forcing the trio to find cover as soon as possible. They stepped into the nearest establishment, quickly closing the entrance behind them and softly sighing while the warmth embraced them.

The difference in ambience was shocking. In the bar there was heat coming from the two fireplaces in each end of the room, their crackling and the warmth they emitted attracted the arrivals, especially Nonoka. She walked up to the closest and wrapped herself in one of the blankets that was placed in a basket near the hearth, on top of a heap of chopped up firewood. The murmur of the townsfolk along with the soft music filled up the rest of the space; it was rather relaxing. The inside was dimly lit, light only emerged from the fireplaces and the hurricane lamps scattered around the walls and furniture. Kakuzu stepped to the windows to look through the half-shut blinds. There was a storm coming, no wonder the town looked like it was abandoned. Everyone has already found somewhere to wait it out, which meant the trio had to do the same.

“Get comfortable,” he said, turning to the zealot. “We are staying for a few hours.”

“Really?” the other asked, annoyed.

“There’s no use going out. Wandering around in the storm only to get lost and waist even more time would be foolish.”

“Yeah, yeah…” he mumbled, while he went to sit at an empty table. ”Whatever you say, old miser. At least buy me a drink or two.”

“You have your own money, use that,” Kakuzu advised, sitting down across him, resting a hand on the dark oak table. “I gave you enough.”

“That’s chump change and you fucking know it!”

“It should cover your basic needs.”

“Unlike you I need to eat at least three times per day,” the other sighed. “And that shit is barely enough for that.”

“I can help you with that,” Nonoka said, who suddenly appeared between them. “What do you want?”

“See, Kuzu?” the pale man yelled cheerfully, grabbing her with his right arm and pulling her close with a swift, assertive move. With that, she was stuck in his aggressive embrace. “One of you is actually fun! I knew it was the right decision to not kill you!”

“Ugh, you’re being too loud,” she muttered.

After having decided to play his stupid, objectifying game she dropped down to sit on his thighs. The young woman lifted a hand to grab his face and forcefully mush his lips together, distorting his lovely features in the process. Hidan grabbed her wrist to remove her hand, however, it was already crystallized and stuck to his skin. The blanket slid off of her; her visage was no longer the only visible part of her under the colourful patchwork quilt. Her damp clothes clanged to her slender, shivering figure tightly. The zealot shamelessly stared at her modest cleavage, her small breasts hidden behind a black halter top. Nonoka lifted his head so that he could only face her.

“Bitch,” Hidan barked. “The fuck is your problem?”

“You can’t just grab me like that,” she told him with an irked tone. “I was planning on buying you a drink, you vicious little asshole.”

“Looks like we’re back to fucking square one with the nicknames,” he noted smugly. “And this position is almost familiar too.”

“You’re rather lucky that I find you fascinating,” she said, slightly smiling.

Nonoka let go of him, but she didn’t move yet. A sudden wave of fatigue crashed over her and forced her to stay in his lap. Almost instinctively she gently wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on top of his shoulder. As the young woman did that she caught a glimpse of a figure standing outside bar. It immediately stepped away from the windows, moving so fast that it was gone in a second.

“I think someone might be following us,” she announced. “You saw that too, right?” asked Nonoka, turning back to face Kakuzu.

“Yes.”

“Could it be someone from your organization?”

“I highly doubt it,” stated the older man. “As far as I’m concerned the others are also occupied with whatever task was given to them.”

“Yeah, those fuckers are always busy!” Hidan interrupted, lifting her up and placing her on the nearest chair. She was much heavier than she looked which surprised him. “The last thing they would do is follow us here to the middle of this frozen shithole.”

“What makes you so sure?” Nonoka pressed further, covering herself again in the blanket from head to toe. “Are you guys all friends with each other?”

“Friends?” Kakuzu demanded, looking even more disgusted when he was staring at them while the two were all entangled.

“You have a shitty sense of humour,” the younger man told her. “I’m getting used to it, but your jokes still suck.”

“Ah, this wasn’t really a joke…” she explained half-heartedly as she grabbed a handful of bills from the pocket of her skirt. Hidan’s eyes lit up when she handed them to him. “Buy whatever you want and get me a tea and whiskey. Would you like something too?”

“No,” came the brief reply from the oldest of the trio.

“Suit yourself, old fart!” the zealot said, already standing in front of the barman.

“Insolent brat…” Kakuzu grunted, placing his map on the wooden table.

“How long have you been partners?” Nonoka asked, inching closer to the man with her chair until she was near enough to be able to read the names on the time-worn geographical chart. “I guess… one year.”

“Longer than that.”

“Huh, it certainly doesn’t seem like it,” she mused, then placed a bandaged finger on the map. “Have you ever been to the Land of Grass?”

“Why?”

“That’s where I was born. Not many people travel there since it’s boring, but at least the forests and ravines are pretty.”

“After fleeing Takigakure I spent some time there.”

“I wonder what has changed,” she pondered.

“Many things.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“The Third Shinobi World War was devastating to every country. If I recall correctly, the Land of Grass became a combat zone between Konohagakure and Iwagakure and many of its important edifices were destroyed during that time.”

“Hidan mentioned it too. When did it happen and what caused it?”

“I’m not a history teacher, go pester someone else with that.”

“You’re almost a century old, there’s not a single person in this room who knows the past better than you,” Nonoka said, trying to butter him up. “Besides, there’s no better way to pass the time than with telling stories!”

Kakuzu had to agree with her on that one. They were involuntarily stuck in that town until the blizzard has passed, which could take hours or in the worst case, days. Unenthusiastically he started telling her most of the things he knew about the third war and the people who fought in them, at the same time filling in the gap she had in her mind as a result of her staying in the cave for twenty-nine years. Nonoka was a pleasant audience; she payed attention to every word that has left his lips and she only asked questions which weren’t abhorrently stupid by his standards. He thought that she was strangely calm; the man expected some bigger reaction other than her usual “huh”.

“So, about the jinchūriki…” she began. “Why do you know so much about them?”

“Our next target possesses Matatabi, the Two-Tailed beast,” Kakuzu said. “I prefer to be prepared before facing the enemy, so I gathered information about them.” he added, giving the side-eye to his partner who was the complete opposite with his recklessness and hot-headed nature.

“Have you fought one before?”

“Does it really matter?” Hidan asked rhetorically while carving his god’s symbol into the table with his kunai. “They’re a bunch of fucking weaklings and we’re gonna kill them all! They say that the tailed beasts make them the strongest, but I think that’s just some shitty rumour to scare pussies.”

“Your downfall will be your habit of underestimating your opponents,” the older man remarked.

“Yeah? Well, yours will be the disgusting money obsession!”

“How mature,” Kakuzu sighed, rolling his eyes.

Nonoka turned to the windows, only to be surprised how dark the outside got. She couldn’t see further than a few feet, after that everything was hidden in darkness. While they were inside talking and drinking, the Sun has already set but the snowstorm remained as violent as before. The thought of stepping outside sent shivers down the young woman’s spine, so she left the two bickering men at the table to ask the barkeep if they had a room where she could spend the night, but the answer was no.

“We should retreat somewhere to sleep,” Nonoka suggested after she returned to the table.

Kakuzu didn’t say much, in fact, he remained silent as he gathered his belongings and rose to his feet, however, his eyes and furrowed eyebrows communicated well enough what he thought about the whole situation. His stern gaze remained while they stepped outside and it got even more displeased when his companions went into a tailor shop. He refused to go in, so he stayed outside and took refuge from the cold winds behind a notice board, which was covered in posters of wanted criminals. The rogue ninja looked for familiar faces, but he couldn’t find anyone worth paying attention to; petty thieves and burglars didn’t interest him. When he heard the doorbell ring -and the familiar voices that followed him everywhere he went- Kakuzu began walking in the direction of the downtown, refusing to spend any more time in that terrific weather. When something cold hit him in the back, he swiftly turned around, ready to face his attacker.

Hidan and Nonoka was in a middle of a playful snow fight, throwing snowballs at each other while running around, laughing loudly like mischievous kids. The young woman was sprinting away from the zealot, who wasn’t able to keep up since the slippery road kept making him lose his balance and one occasion fall flat on his ass. He yelled obscenities while she -as fast as she could- rushed to stand beside Kakuzu, who was still standing there, watching the scene unfold. Nonoka clutched the sleeve of his cloak to stop herself from gliding away, staring up at Kakuzu, who was looking down at her with disapproval. The older man was ready to tear out his arm from the hold of her small hands, when suddenly a snowball hit him in the face, right below his cheekbone. He lifted his stern gaze to meet the equally horrified and excited expression that Hidan was sporting. He was holding another snowball, ready to be thrown.

Snowflakes began falling from the clouds and got swiftly carried away by the harsh breeze; Kakuzu couldn’t remember the last time he has seen them, let alone played in snow, but his hands did not forget how to make firm snowballs. The look on the younger man’s visage turned even more gleeful when his partner bent down and picked up a handful of the white, cold blanket which covered the sleeping landscape around them. He threw it at Hidan with such quickness and strength that when the snowball hit him right in the chest all of the air escaped his lungs and was left gasping. Finally, the zealot stood up to face him, but then a snowball hit him in the forehead, which one came from the girl. He wiped down his snow covered face and ran towards them to attack. Neither of his companions got away with the icy road under their feet, even the snowballs they were throwing couldn’t halt the unstoppable force which was Hidan. Kakuzu and Nonoka lost their balance as he tackled them; they fell backwards into the thick layer of snow, sinking deep. When she reopened her eyes after the fall he was still on top of them with a glorious smirk, his chest heaving and face flushed with a lively rosy tint.

“Ha! I’ve won!” Hidan cackled. “You guys fucking suck!”

She tilted her head to look at Kakuzu. She could’ve sworn that he was smiling under his half-removed mask, the peculiar wrinkles at the corners of his eyes gave it away. There was a glint in them that disappeared as fast as it came when he readjusted his face cover. Nonoka stared at the two men for a fleeting second, then drifted back onto the snow. A tiny chuckle escaped her lips as she seemed to think of something.

“Get off me, you brat,” Kakuzu said, shoving the other away. “Playtime is over.”

“Oi, don’t be so fucking rude!” his partner said, taming his ruffled, silver mane with his fingers. “Sore loser…”

Hidan was still smoothing down his hair, even in the inn which Kakuzu chose to spend the night at. They weren’t the only ones who were forced to wait out the storm there, the lobby was rather crowded with travellers from all around the nations. After waiting in line for at least half an hour the trio finally got to speak to the receptionist, only to be confronted with the fact that there were only one room left with a bunkbed.

“Things could be worse,” the young woman remarked, inspecting the musty smelling room they got. “I’ll take the upper one.”

“Hell no!” Hidan screamed, standing in the entrance of the tiny bathroom with a toothbrush in his hand. “I’m not sleeping on that shitty couch!”

“You will,” she said, placing the scroll at the foot of the bed.

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Consider this as a repayment for the drinks.”

“I’m gonna fucking strangle you in your sleep…” the other muttered, returning to the sink to continue brushing his teeth.

“You should have expected this,” Kakuzu told him, sitting on the lower bunk.

“Nothing is free,” she added, standing in front of the windows and lighting a cigarette. She took a long drag from it, and with a sigh the smoke exited her lungs. “It feels so weird to do this again.”

“Then why are you doing it?” the pale man asked, returning to the room with a towel around his neck. He was only wearing his pants; he kicked off his shoes the moment he stepped into the room and his coat was laid across the dark brown sofa. “Smoking’s nasty and it fucks with your throat and shit.”

“I like it, that should be enough of a reason,” she said, holding out the package for him. “Want one?”

“Yeah,” Hidan shrugged, taking a cig from it and placing it between his lips.

“Have you ever smoked?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?” Nonoka questioned grinning. “I’ve never lit one by the filter.”

“Fucking piece of shit,” he cursed, snatching the thing out of his mouth and putting it back the correct way.

“Come here,” she hummed, leaning closer and pushing the ends of their cigarettes together until his lit up. “Now, inhale.”

He did as he was told, even though it ended up with him in a coughing fit.

“You’re a truly terrible liar,” she chuckled softly.

“The same could be said about you,” remarked Kakuzu.

“Really? Then tell me, how do you know when I say something untrue?”

“The right corner of your mouth twitches a little when you lie.”

“Huh, you sure are good at reading people,” Nonoka mused. “When did you discover it?”

“When I confronted you about the bingo book.”

“Ah, I didn’t feel like telling the full truth about that back then, but now that we’ve become the greatest pals I might as well be honest.”

“So?” the older man urged, lifting his eyes from the book he was reading.

“I crystallized the guy I was supposed to marry a day before our wedding day, then I stole money and fled Kusagakure.”

“The fuck?” Hidan yelled surprised, snapping his head to look at her. “You were a fucking bride? Who the hell would want to marry you?”

“Why’s everyone so shocked when I say that? But anyways, it was the idea of my lovely father,” she retorted, staring out the window with her smoking cigarette between her teeth. “As the head of our clan he needed allies, so he decided to arrange a marriage between me and the heir of the Hirose clan without once asking my opinion on the matter.”

“What about your sister? Why didn’t she tie the knot with him instead?” Kakuzu questioned further.

“She married the cute Academy teacher she dated without anyone knowing. Well, except me. Noriko is sly, but not slyer than me!” Nonoka chuckled. “Since she was wedded by that time, just like my younger brother, I was the only one left to be used for his plans.”

“The Hirose clan was somewhat respectable since they had some great fighters. Nevertheless, most of them perished in the third war.”

“Maybe some good things actually came out of it,” she sighed contently. “Say, do you know what happened to my family, the Kesshōmoris?”

“No, I have never heard that name before,” Kakuzu answered right away.

“Shame, but that’s also kind of the point since we are spies,” she told them, putting out her cig. “Our kekkei genkai is perfect for that.”

“I don’t fucking see it,” Hidan admitted. ”You can turn into crystal or turn things into crystal, right?”

“Exactly.”

“So how’s that any use while you sneak around?”

“Do you really think I don’t have other tricks up in my sleeve?” Nonoka grinned. “Alright, I’ll give you guys a demonstration.”

She lifted her hands and covered her smiling face gently, than swiftly removed them a few seconds later. Her appearance changed; a completely different visage was watching the two men as they stared at her with bewilderment. Nonoka borrowed the features of a man nearing his nineties, barely alive and seemingly minutes away from the grave. Her waxy skin was all wrinkly and sickly pale with moles here and there. One of her bloodshot eyes appeared milky after the cataract has overtaken her left pupil and left her half-blind. The tattoos on her forehead and chin disappeared, instead she had bushy, caterpillar-like eyebrows and a short, white beard. She closed her eyes shut, and with that her face soon turned into the crystal state and back to normal.

“That’s some freaky shit,” Hidan muttered, stepping closer and poking her in the cheek to examine her soft skin. Between the two men he appeared to be the less shocked one. “Are you sure that was not your real face?”

“A hundred percent,” she said, taking the cigarette out of his hand to finish it. “It was my fraternal grandpa’s.”

“How can you do that?” Kakuzu asked, actually interested in the answer.

“Patience and practice,” the girl shrugged, still beaming with pride. “It’s like when you mimic the weird expression someone makes when they sneeze or the strange tone they speak in when they’re angry. You do it again and again until you can perfectly replicate it. It’s essentially the same in my case, though it’s a lot harder as I have to account for all of the small parts which make a face whole, like weird discolorations, freckles, veins, tiny scars, et cetera. You never realize how every person is unique until you take a really close look at them.”

“How many faces you have memorized?”

“Only a few.”

“That’s not much.”

“I prefer making up one, but I could probably do either of you,” she suggested, glancing at the zombie combo. “I had enough time to study your features.”

“No,” the older man said immediately. “The last thing I want is to someone steal my face.”

“Not just the face, the body too!” she corrected him. “I rarely transform myself fully as it’s really tiring and uses a lot of chakra, but I’m pretty good at it.”

“I wanna see that shit!” Hidan yelled, gleefully smirking at his partner. ”Do it!”

“Don’t you dare,” Kakuzu warned, but it didn’t stop her.

Soon there were two of the infamous rogue ninja of Takigakure. The original Kakuzu was displeased, burying his face in his palm to escape the sight of his “clone” twirling around in a burgundy red skirt. The other one forgot that clothes never change in size; Nonoka was lucky that at least one or her garments stayed intact as her top was torn apart in the process. She didn’t look exactly like him as some of the rogue ninja’s stiches and scars were missing that she has never seen on his stomach, but the biggest difference was her sweet smile which looked odd on Kakuzu, even to him. She held out an arm to examine her right hand, which was much larger and the skin was coarser too. No matter how many times she pulled this stunt, she never got old of looking at others from their perspective, even though she technically did not switch places with them.

“Holy fuck!” Hidan shouted excitedly. “You gotta give it to her old miser, she’s good!”

“Do not encourage her, Hidan,” said Nonoka sternly, lowering her voice to mock his deep, rumbling tone. “If you side with her I might have to, as the younger generation would say, fuck shit up.”

She burst out laughing, which resulted in the younger man losing his composure. Both of them were giggling like idiots; the sight made the oldest of the trio sigh deeply and wish he was somewhere far away from this childish madness. He picked up his novel again to continue reading, but his movements came to a fast halt when for her next move she transformed into Hidan. Nonoka got smaller, her frame was less muscular, but still manly and athletic. The long, dark brown hair turned short and pale like the moonlight. Her skin did the same, as if all colours were drained from her besides her magenta eyes which seemed to glow in the barely lit room. Her smile soon turned into a cocky grin. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she walked up to Hidan, stopping barely an inch away. To the original one it was looking into a mirror; she did an exceptional job of copying his appearance and body language. It was a bit disturbing; the young woman was way too good at it.

“Hey, asshole!” she barked, mimicking the pale man whenever he was acting like a brat. “Are you interested in the way of Lord Jashin and his teachings?”

“Fuck off with that,” the younger man mumbled, shoving the other away. His pale cheeks turned ever so slightly red in his embarrassment; this was something that she did not anticipated, but really liked nonetheless and wanted to see more of. “I get it, you’re a fucking chameleon!”

“You’re adorable when you blush,” Nonoka remarked, returning to her original form. She lazily dropped down on the bed next to Kakuzu, swinging a leg over the other to cross them. She only spoke again after Hidan hastily escaped the room to take a shower. “Ah, I’m so tired!”

“Get dressed,” Kakuzu commanded, not lifting his gaze from his book.

“Why? Does the sight of my naked chest make you uncomfortable?” she chuckled. “Are you flustered?”

“You would need to do more than that,” he said calmly, throwing his Akatsuki cape over her head.

“Oh, really?”

“That was not a challenge.”


	7. Cabin Fever

For a few hours everything was as calm and serene as an inn full of travellers could be. There paper-thin walls did their best to provide the trio a restful night. Somewhere in the old building on one of its hallways a window was left open and the screaming winds outside were attacking it with all of their might, violently slamming it into the wall again repeatedly, following a strange rhythm. As Hidan laid wide awake he had no choice but to listen to it; the sound was strangely comforting after an exceptionally bad nightmare. As he got older these visions appeared less and less frequently, however, they never went away. The night terrors only left him alone for month at most and then they always came back. He was unsure of what was their exact cause, mainly because the pale man has always suffered from them, even as a little kid.

The couch under him softly squeaked while Hidan shifted into a more cosy sitting position, resting his interlocked arms on his knees. Between his lips he had his sacred pendant; it was cold on the tip of his tongue as he absentmindedly held it, clearly lost in thoughts. When he seemed to come to a conclusion he let it fall out from his mouth; the necklace hit his chest with a gentle thud. The pale man stood up, grabbed his kunai and walked up to the bunkbed to take a closer look at his slumbering companions.

This was the first night Hidan saw the girl sleep without the indestructible crystal layer around her, usually she hardened her skin to protect herself from future attacks as well as completely seal herself from the outside world. Nonoka was laying on her stomach, hugging a pillow close to her chest and burying her face in it. She appeared joyful, even while she was dreaming the edges of her mouth curled upwards. Maybe this was her neutral state: always smiling like she had a secret or a juicy gossip to tell. Nonetheless, she was the most vulnerable in her sleep and the zealot was convinced he’d never have a better chance at killing her. Hidan prickled her upper arm with the weapon, drawing blood from the tiniest wound which would disappear without a trace in a few days. With his index finger he picked up the small crimson drop and licked it off. The iron taste lingered on his tongue; he savoured it, but did not use it to perform his ritual.

Her waist length hair was a tousled mess, it hid most of her face and bare back from the magenta eyes. _“You should tie up your fucking hair, it’s asking to be grabbed and pulled,”_ Hidan thought, picking up a thin lock of hair and twirling it between his index finger and thumb. He took a moment to process what his subconscious just said, and his eyes widened in shock. _“Fuck no, not like that! It’s unsafe on the battlefield.”_ The pale man swiftly turned his head away, then back to her again. The more he stared at Nonoka, the more lewd his thoughts became as images of her in compromising situations popped up in his head. They were nothing new, but now these scenarios were actually arousing him. Hidan grinned as he let out a shaky sigh, trying to ignore the heat boiling in his lower abdomen. He was itching to make an offering out of Nonoka to his bloodthirsty god, but just as much he wanted to have his way with her, embracing her violently and getting lost in each other until they reached their climax.

He squatted down to escape the rather impure thoughts, only to be faced with Kakuzu, who was looking at him. A scared yelp escaped his mouth as he lunged backwards, landing on his backside as a result. When he glanced at him again the young man realised his partner was not awake. The deep shadows on Kakuzu’s visage played tricks on Hidan’s mind. His peculiar eyes, which always looked at the other with disapproval or annoyance, were closed and his chest was rising and falling in a slow tempo.

“Don’t scare me like that, old fart…” he muttered angrily.

When he collected himself, the zealot knelt down beside the Kakuzu. Just like any other time of the day, the other was wearing his mask, however, while he tossed and turned in his sleep it moved, leaving more of his facial features uncovered other than his eyebrows and eyes. His lips were slightly parted, and Hidan caught himself staring at them longer than he should have. There was something so mesmerizing about seeing this man in a tranquil state. In his mind Kakuzu was a killing machine forged in the wars and battles he fought in, his presence alone demanded respect and his name ignited a fear in the hearts of other people. The fact that he was also a pioneer of immortality made Hidan feel completely captivated by him, but of course, he would never admit that. Besides, he loathed his companion’s money obsession and complete disregard of his religion. _“He’s a miserable cunt who has nothing but his damned cash,”_ he noted in his mind. The zealot found it easier to focus on all the negative aspects of the older man’s character, harbouring the dislike in his heart and nurturing it in an attempt to let it grow into hatred. He’d rather always feel that way than come to terms the affection he had for Kakuzu. This was simpler and more comfortable.

In that moment Hidan nearly forgot about all that. He held his breath while the other shifted from laying on his back to resting on his side with the crumpled pillow still under his head. _“What the fuck am I even doing?”_ the pale man thought, standing in the middle of the cold floor. _“Ugh, I fucking hate all these pathetic feelings.”_ He walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He did not return to the room until he has released the tension that built up inside, only he knew how much time he spent in there pleasuring himself. Later when Hidan dropped down onto the couch a satisfied groan escaped his mouth; he was a lot calmer than before. Now there was nothing left to keep him up, so he soon fell asleep again.

He woke up to the noises which came from the room next to theirs where someone was taking a shower. The zealot quickly got up and put on yesterday’s clothes since he didn’t have any other at the moment. He turned to the bunkbed where no one was sleeping. The bedding was neatly folded; the sight made his heart ache a tiny bit. _“Did they just fucking ditch me?”_ Hidan angrily looked for their belongings everywhere but he couldn’t find them as the two didn’t even leave a speck of dust behind. When he gave up he sat down on the uncomfortable couch with his scythe in his hands.

The doorknob was pressed down and Kakuzu opened the entrance to their short-term lodging in the exact second when the idea to trash the place popped up in Hidan’s head. He jerked his head in the direction of the sound, feeling glad and mad at the same time.

“Oi, where the fuck did you go?” he demanded from the other, who was holding a brown paper bag in his left hand.

“To buy some supplies and gather intel,” Kakuzu grumbled, putting them down next to him. The storm outside was not kind to the older man as he was covered in snow from head to toe. He shook off the cold, half-frozen droplets on his cloak and placed the garment on the clothes rack nearby the window. It was sparkling in the sunlight.

“Where’s Nono?”

“Who?” he asked, giving the zealot a strange look. “Did I hear that right?”

“What?”

“This is what you decided to call the girl?”

“She told me to call her that,” Hidan explained, feeling quite annoyed.

“If you say so,” he said, watching the other rummage through the contents of the bag. “There’s bread, roasted chicken and green apples for you.”

“Hell yeah!” he yelled excitedly and placed them in his lap. “You can be nice sometimes if you try hard enough, Kuzu!”

After taking off his shoes Kakuzu sat down on the lower bunk. He put down a map on the stained matress, marking their current location and circling their destination with a red pencil. He traced the fastest routes too and the settlements teeming with ninjas. The zealot watched as his partner’s expression turn more sombre than usual, something seemed to bother him beyond what was in front of him. Hidan -since he was in a rather good mood due to the meal the other got him- rose to his feet and sat down in front of the other with his mouth full of the mixture of spicy meat and crunchy apple.

“This is the best chicken I’ve ever eaten!” he remarked contentedly. “Here, try it,” he offered, putting the plastic container he had in his hand directly under Kakuzu’s nose.

“I’m not hungry,” his companion muttered, shoving it away.

“You rude asshole, I’m not telling you to eat it!”

“Fine.”

The older man pulled off his mask with his index finger, picked up a bite sized piece of the tender, warm meat and placed in his mouth, then he nonchalantly licked off the grease and spice on his fingers. When Kakuzu lifted his eyes from the geographical chart of the Land of Snow, the zealot was still staring at him with an expression he has seen before, but was unsure of its meaning. He looked somewhat pained and flustered as their gazes locked onto each other; it was a curios look on his face. Hidan wanted to move or do something- Kakuzu saw it in his tense posture and firm grip on the fabric of his loose pants- but for some reason he stayed still. He was acting weird, well, weirder than what his partner was used to.

“Hidan,” said the older man in a firm tone, freeing him from his entranced state.

“What?”

“I… Nothing,” he grumbled as he put his mask back on, not knowing what to make of this situation.

He was determined to continue his work, even with the awkwardness weighing on them. For the first time Kakuzu wished for the swift return of the girl. The two got along strangely well, mainly because they were so close in age and neither of them worried about anything ever. He preferred to always address them as brats; the word was just simply too fitting and encapsulated Nonoka’s and Hidan’s personality perfectly. More often than not they were childish, brash and rowdy, especially when contrasted with the oldest of the trio. Now it would’ve come in handy to have her lighten up the mood.

“We have to spend another night here,” Kakuzu said later. “Tomorrow the storm will be tame enough for us to travel.”

“Huh,” Hidan hummed, stuffing his mouth with bread. “This country really sucks. It’s cold and boring, not to mention Yugakure is too fucking close.”

“Eat somewhere else,” the other said, sweeping away the crumbs the other dropped on the matress. “My bed is not your damned dining table.”

“Sheesh, calm your tits,” the zealot teased, but still got up and sat down onto the floor. It was much better than sitting on the couch. “So, where’d she go? She was hellbent on following us.”

“The last time I saw her she went into the post office.”

“Why?”

“Not my concern.”

“She probably wrote to her family or something,” Hidan speculated. “It’s kind of hilarious to think about. She disappears for thirty years and one day she just sends them a letter saying that she’s fucking fine and is tagging along with two immortal dudes who’s current objective is to kill the Two-Tails!” he laughed. “Still, there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“The fucker she was supposed to marry is dead, right?”

“Most likely, yes,” Kakuzu agreed.

“So, what’s holding her back from going home?” he asked, breaking another apple in half with his bare hands. “She must have someone waiting for her,” the young man added.

“She mentioned her dislike for her father quite a few times, which must play a role in her refusal to return.”

“Yeah, she definitely hates his guts.”

“I’m also certain that she hopes that by sticking with us she might find a sense of purpose.”

“A sense of purpose?” Hidan repeated in surprise.

“That girl is clearly lost,” Kakuzu said sternly. “She comes from a clan which is well-off enough for her to not have to work for a single day, she had the rest of her life planned out by her father and she also hinted at that she never studied at the Academy in Kusagakure. All of this left her in a position where she had some independence, but she was also held on a close leash so she wouldn’t be able to use it. It made her loathe any authority others might exercise over her, therefore what I believe has happened is this: she rebelled until the opportunity to be fully free presented itself and she immediately took her chance without a second thought.”

“I guess what you’re saying is right now, without restraints, she doesn’t know who she is.”

“Yes. In her eyes we embody the freedom to go anywhere and do anything, however, she has yet to see the reality of our situation.”

“Yeah, some were forced to join the Akatsuki,” the zealot smugly cackled at his companion.

“Shut up.”

The door opened and Nonoka hastily stepped in, then with an even faster motion she locked the door behind her.

“Took you long enough,” Hidan remarked, unfazed by her upset state.

“Remember the person from yesterday?” she turned to the other, ignoring him completely.

“Yes.”

“Well, he or she is still around,” she stated, tightly hugging the scroll to her chest.

“Did they attack you?” Kakuzu asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “I avoided secluded areas where they would’ve had the chance, but I think they saw me go into the inn.”

“Well, that’s just great!” the zealot grinned. “They’ll be a perfect sacrifice for Lord Jashin!”

“Sure, do whatever you have to do,” Nonoka shrugged, thereafter walked up to the heater in their room to warm herself as she was still trembling. “They’re probably after you two, not me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I disappeared from the face of the Earth for almost thirty years, so I highly doubt that anyone is looking for me. If Noriko didn’t come, then no one else will.”

“Who the fuck is that?” Hidan asked.

“My twin sister,” she told him, taking her heavy coat off to throw it on the couch. Without another word she walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. “Don’t bother me, I’ll be busy for a while.”

Nonoka put down the large bag she was holding next to the toilet, then removed her makeshift top made out of a pillowcase, and all of her other clothes. She tossed them aside while standing naked in front the small, cracked mirror. The girl took out the thin box out of the pockets of her skirt and opened it up to reveal its contents: a rattail comb and a pair of scissors. The latter was cold and surprisingly light in her hand. She tossed it up in the air and caught it with a confident grip, then got to work. This wasn’t the first time Nonoka gave herself a haircut, and what she was doing didn’t require much expertise either. Chop after chop she shortened her hair until it reached an inch below her shoulder blades.

When she was content with the results she raised her gaze to stare at her reflection with a prideful smile on her lips. Nonoka admired her new haircut and her face as well, leaning so close to the mirror so she could inspect her eyebrows which were growing out again. She decided to not shave them like she used to. _“Dad’s probably dead by now, so he can’t force this stupid tradition on me anymore,”_ the girl thought while sweeping the floor. She threw the blonde locks and her old clothes in the bin. After taking a quick shower and drying her hair she got dressed in an oversized t-shirt, a pair of thick wool socks and her usual undergarment.

She exited the bathroom with her hands on her hips.

“Do you notice anything different?”

“You’re dressed like a fucking toddler,” Hidan said grinning.

“And you look like a dog who’s begging for its owner’s attention,” she retorted, hinting at the young man’s position on the ground right next to his partner’s legs. “Also, wrong answer. Kakuzu?”

“What?” he demanded, annoyed.

“What has changed about me while I was in there?”

“You got even less bearable,” Kakuzu responded as he left the room to extend their stay by one night.

“Hey!” she yelled after him, pointing at her head with both index fingers. “It’s my hair! Look!”

“Looks like shit,” the zealot remarked as he laughed at her. “Did you cut it in the dark?”

“Says the one who looks like an albino sewer rat. No one uses that much hair gel other than guys above fifty!”

“Hey, at least my hair won’t be in the way when I fight!”

“Ha!” she chuckled malevolently. “That doesn’t apply to me because I don’t fight.”

“That’s a lie, you dipshit!”

“Nah, I’m a true pacifist.”

“You killed a guy in that fucked up forest,” Hidan reminded the girl.

“That was self-defence!”

“Just like your fiancé?”

“He was an asshole,” she said, lighting a cig between her lips. “Not just any asshole, but an abusive one. He kicked and hit the maids in their mansion like it was nothing.”

“That’s their problem, not fucking yours.”

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Do you think he wouldn’t have laid a hand on me?”

“If the cunt did that you’d beat the shit out of him. I know you like to act fucking delicate and ladylike, but you’re stronger than you look.”

“Aw, was that a compliment?” Nonoka teased, squatting down in front of him with a huge smile on her face. Somehow it was equally sarcastic and sincere with her head tilted to the right.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Alright,” she chuckled as she lifted her right arm and ran her fingers through Hidan’s hair; the bold move caught him off guard.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“You know, you could use a haircut too.”

“It’s fine.”

“Oh, come on!” she begged, grabbing his right hand with her own. “I’ll do a good job, I promise!”

“Now you’re acting like a fucking toddler too,” the young man sighed, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “Get lost,” he added.

“Oh, wait,” she said suddenly. “I think I know.”

“Know what?”

“You like it when people pull it, don’t you?” Nonoka asked not so innocently. “You kinky bastard.”

Without a warning she grabbed a handful of his silver mane and pulled him close, faster than the other could react. Their noses almost touched; she felt his breath on her skin. Hidan’s eyes widened ever so slightly, and his expression changed too; he completely forgot what he was irked about earlier. A blush began spreading across his visage, painting his porcelain skin with a rosy tint. _“There it is,”_ she thought. _“What a wonderful sight!”_ She pressed her half-burnt cigarette against a metal bar of the bunkbed to extinguish it and then dropped it on the ground. Nonoka let go of his hair to grab the zealot’s face with both of her hands. Even with the bandages she felt the warmth of his milky skin, especially on her thumb that was caressing his lower lip. Every time he exhaled through his parted lips she felt the hot air dance around her finger, it tickled. Their eyes were locked onto each other.

Still, she didn’t make the next move. Hidan closed the uncomfortable distance between them. Their kiss was rushed and forceful, something Nonoka was unprepared for, but should’ve expected from the other. She accidentally bit her lower lip when he leaned in. From the tiny wound her crimson blood came and it got mixed with her saliva and his too. He jerked his head back when he felt the iron taste in his mouth. He stared at the girl with a surprised look on his face, searching for the source of the blood and then finding it on her lower lip. Hidan leaned in and slowly licked off the red droplet, never breaking eye contact. His brazenness found her in a state of astonishment.

This was his signal to take the lead. He put his left hand on the nape of her slender neck to pull her closer, while the other found a way to her left breast under her baggy, white t-shirt. He gently grabbed and massaged it while toying with her nipple. The zealot liked that she was rather responsive; Nonoka’s body moulded into his hands like the finest clay and she was not afraid to touch him either, caressing his chest, back and shapely butt. He had to admit that she was a good kisser too, maybe one of the best he has ever had the chance to encounter.

Their kiss only got more and more passionate, it deepened and turned into something primal, almost instinctive. It felt so damn right, but suffocating too. He once again had to pull away to breathe. Only then did Hidan realize how hardly his chest was heaving. His breaths were rugged and hers too, as if they had almost drowned in each other. The pale man used this fleeting pause to stare at the girl laying under him, to -for the first time ever- really take in what he was seeing. Her tan skin was lively with a pink tinge, especially her already rosy, soft lips which got darker in colour and they were glossy from their saliva too. Nonoka was looking at him with such gentle, longing eyes that they almost made his heart skip a beat. Hidan rarely saw this strange expression as it was usually reserved for when she talked about things she liked or did before she was crystallized in that cave, but now it was all for him and the realisation was so powerful that it almost made him tremble. She was a stunning sight.

“You never shut up for this long,” Nonoka breathed, massaging circles into his shoulder with her finger.

Hidan didn’t answer but a tiny chuckle still escaped his mouth; he has never felt so sheepish before. He planted a rougher kiss on her lips than before, thereafter with her help he removed her t-shirt and tossed it somewhere in a corner. He lowered himself and began kissing the girl behind her ear, then slowly made his way down along her neck, collarbones, breasts, belly and lower abdomen, leaving behind a trail of tiny hickies. Hidan stopped at her waistline, but didn’t wait for permission from her to continue; he hooked his finger in the hem of her panties and got rid of it with the expertise of someone who has done it countless times before. The young woman was now fully exposed in front of him, as vulnerable as one can be. Hidan started pulling down his pants, but Nonoka stopped him.

“Not so fast,” she told him, releasing his wrist from her grasp. “You have to work for it.”

“What do you have in mind?” he asked, staring up at her with hungry eyes from under his grey lashes. “Do you want me to eat you out?”

“God, yes,” Nonoka sighed.

“In return I can fuck you raw.”

“No way in hell,” she said firmly while she hastily stood up despite his protest. “I bought condoms in all sizes, there’s gotta be one that fits you.”

She hurried into the bathroom, leaving the pale man alone with a throbbing erection in his pants pressing against the hard floor and a frown on his handsome face. He rested his head in his hand while he impatiently waited for her. The girl soon returned with a handful of small, colourful packets which she dropped on the floor and sat down in front of Hidan with her legs wide open. The young man assertively grabbed her hips to stop her from leaving again, not that she would’ve wanted to anyways. He positioned his head between her thighs and ran his tongue from her opening to her clitoris. He worked on her sweet spot until his pleasurable assault earned him a shaky, delighted sigh from Nonoka, which resonated within and awakened something in him. Hidan swiftly decided that he really liked the sound she made, it was something between a moan and gasp, a noise so peculiar that one could only hear it situations like this. He loved it simply because it always meant his partner was enjoying whatever he was doing to them, which in return made him hornier. He inserted one, then another finger into her vagina, turned his hand up and massaged her from the inside where the texture was a bit different. He knew from experience that women liked that; she was no different with all the soft moaning sounds she made and if that wouldn’t have been a good enough indicator of that she was also grasping and pulling his hair; it was a painful encouragement. Hidan felt her get wetter by the minute, so he stopped and lifted his head a bit, signalling for her to let go. He quickly removed his pants as he didn’t want it to get even dirtier; the precum already left a coin sized spot on its crotch.

“You’re not bad at this” Nonoka asked, a bit dizzy from almost reaching her climax.

“Obviously,” he breathed as he fumbled with the wrapping.

“Are you nervous, or what?” she chuckled, snatching the rubber from his hands and skilfully rolling it onto his dick. She gave it a few pumps for good measure while the other’s breath hitched under her touch; they were both really close. “I want to ride you.”

“You won’t.”

He wasn’t gentle or careful. He just moved his hips forward, filling her with his erect member. He began thrusting with a steady pace which promptly turned fast and desperate as he was already on the verge of orgasm. Even when he came he didn’t stop moving until Nonoka finished too; Hidan made sure he rocked her world properly. He pulled out and plopped down on the floor lazily, then removed the condom and tied its end in a knot. The trashcan was too far so he threw it under the couch.

For a while he just sat there chest heaving, heart beating and sweat dripping down on his forehead; his mind was as blank as a white sheet of paper. He lifted his gaze from the intricate pattern of the wooden floor to the girl who was in the middle of searching for her clothes, wandering around naked in the now very silent room. Everything that they did happened so fast and the intimate moment was gone even faster. He wasn’t even sure if he wasn’t just imagining things up until a few seconds ago. _“Is it possible that she read my mind while she was sleeping?”_ he pondered. _“Or all of this is just a big fucking coincidence?”_

Nonoka disappeared for a few seconds, then came back with a half-moist, half-dry towel. She squatted down next to Hidan and wiped off his lips and chin.

“You’re more than fascinating,” she said soon.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s the highest compliment I can give to someone.”

“Oi, don’t tell me that you’re in love with me after I made you cum!” Hidan yelled, but soon turned silent when the towel collided with his cheek. “Hey!”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” the young woman laughed with a cigarette between her lips. “You were good, but I’ve had better before. You did a rushed job.”

“It’s been a while since I got laid,” Hidan admitted. “The orange haired cunt always sends us on missions and Kuzu doesn’t fucking know when to take a fucking break.”

“Oh, you poor soul. It must’ve been really tough until I came along.”

“I managed,” he remarked as he unintentionally mirrored the smile on her face. “Also, when did you decide that we gonna fuck?”

“Probably when the three of us spent the night in the woods two days ago,” the girl replied. “I saw you skinny dipping.”

“That’s it?”

“I know you expected an hour long tale of me falling for your perfect little ass and everything but I didn’t. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough.”

“Next time,” he said, wiping his private areas clean. “This won’t be your last chance to see me naked.”

“Oh? So you think there is going to be a next time?” she teased him.

“I can give you three reasons why,” the zealot told her. ”You really fucking enjoyed yourself, you seem like a person who fucks whenever they want to and there’s no one else around who’s ‘fascinating’ by your weird, enigmatic standards.”

“You forgot about our dear Kakuzu.”

“You’d sleep with the old miser?” Hidan asked taken aback.

“Yeah, definitely,” she nodded and sarcasm was nowhere to be found in her voice. “Just think about it.”

“I’d rather not.”

“He lived for so long, but his body is still in its prime. I’m convinced that he knows what he likes and he’s experienced. He had decades to figure everything out.”

“But he’s ugly as sin.”

“Are you blind?” the girl demanded, almost the dropping the cig out of her hand. “That man is everything but ugly, even with the stiches and the weird masks. I’d let him take all of my money just so that I can look at his handsome face once more.”

“You have a weird taste when it comes to men,” the other noted while he put on his underwear. Later a thought occurred to him as he was washing his pants in the bathroom sink, so he stopped moving and leaned back a bit so he could look at the girl from the bathroom. “Have you ever been with a woman?”

“Many times,” she answered truthfully. “More than with guys.”

“No fucking way!”

“You better believe it! I don’t care about gender, I just like what I like.”

“And what do you like?”

“Well, to be frank, I prefer women over men,” Nonoka chuckled, reminiscing about her past lovers. “Appearance usually doesn’t matter to me, but I absolutely adore tall and muscular people, especially when I can dominate them.”

“And you say I’m the kinky one,” he muttered. Her words really stuck with Hidan, but he had no idea why. “Freaky bitch…”

“What about you?” she asked as she was leaning against the doorframe. “If I had to guess I’d say you swing both ways.”

“Yeah, but I never bottom”

“Your loss.”

“Fuck no, that shit’s just weird.”

“You really hate it that much when you’re not in control?”

“It’s all about being inferior,” the pale man shrugged while placing his pants on the airer to let them dry. “I hate it.”

“Still, somebody might change your mind.”

“I fucking doubt that.”

“So, now that you’re done,” she said with the scissors in her hand. “Let me cut your hair.”

“Ugh, fine,” Hidan rolled his eyes and sat down on the stool she brought for him. “But if you fuck it up, I will shave your head in your sleep.”

The young woman grinned as she got to work. She knew very well that it was a real threat, but she could never take those seriously. Their banter continued while she was combing his hair after she washed it to get the sticky gel out. Nonoka picked up silver locks between her index and middle finger, and cut them shorter with swift, steady movements. She danced around him while constantly making adjustments wherever it was needed, all the while dealing with Hidan who refused to behave and sit still. Something inevitably has changed in their relationship and it resulted in him becoming touchy in the physical sense. He couldn’t keep his hands to himself as he seemed to take every chance he got to grab her butt or breasts, pinch her skin, pull her hair and playfully shove her around. Even with his childish behaviour Nonoka still managed to give him a decent haircut that did not look that different from the previous one.

“Huh,” Hidan mumbled as he inspected it, leaning close to the mirror. “You might not actually suck at this.”

“One of our old maids used to be a hairdresser and she thought me everything I know. She’s a pretty cool person.”

“Past fucking tense,” he reminded her. “She’s definitely dead.”

“Ah, you’re probably right,” she sighed.

The entrance to their room opened again, and Kakuzu walked in, finally returning after a surprisingly long time and in a somewhat sombre mood. He didn’t even glance at the two in the bathroom, the older man just picked up his book and continued reading on his bed like he hadn’t left the room for almost an hour. He found it hard to concentrate on the page in front of him, he almost had to restart after every sentence as his eyes skipped over words or sometimes whole paragraphs didn’t seem to make any sense. He was firmly holding the book in his hands; the paper under his thumbs began to rumple. He was pissed, but as much as he was aware of it and knew the reason behind it, he refused to do anything about his anger. It simmered while he was listening to the conversation between the brats. They weren’t talking about anything he cared about, that’s not why he was eavesdropping. Kakuzu noticed that the zealot was acting a bit differently around her. From the corner of his eyes he saw Hidan’s hands brush up against her thighs when Nonoka left the bathroom to put out her cigarette, however, the girl didn’t hit him or told him off like she did before.

Kakuzu quickly closed the novel and threw it on the matress, not caring enough to use a bookmark.


End file.
